New Beginnings
by Seor
Summary: The girl turned to the Headmistress, this time not bothering to hide a shiver going from head to foot. This had to be a record, this. It was a nightmare. It was all a whole, stinking nightmare.  "Did I – did I just not get sorted into a house?"
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was just as magnificent as she imagined it to be, if not more. Underneath the velvety sky sprinkled with cheerfully blinking lights, the castle, in all its glory of battlements and turrets, towered above a cliff top overlooking the dark lake across from them. A warm glow emanated from its countless windows, promising full fires, bright candlelight, and dried goodness. The girl shivered in the night's chill, pulling the enormous cloak around her shoulders tightly. It had been raining for the good part of the afternoon, and it hadn't taken long for the water to soak her to her very bones. The man beside her had generously given her his cloak; she didn't have the heart to tell him that waterlogged, it was more of a nuisance than anything.

"We going by boat?" She asked him warily. He glanced in her direction, but in the night, his expression was unreadable.

"Nope. Thestrals are the way to go, so I've heard." She raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

A moment later, a shadowy figure broke off from the rest of its similar surroundings. It flew closer and closer, taking the shape of a malnourished horse, before landing a few feet away from the pair. The man helped her up onto the creature's back before climbing on himself.

"Hope you like flying on horses just as well as Portkeying." She told him lightly before the Thestral trotted a few steps and launched into the air.

"_Portkeying _is not a word." She heard him mutter under his breath.

A few minutes later, they stood in front of great oak doors. The girl turned to the man inquisitively, but he only shook his head. He pushed them open, revealing the house-sized hall inside. _Just prolonging my dramatic entrance_, she thought sarcastically, biting down a bubble of nervousness she'd been trying to pop for the past few hours. She could already hear the murmurs of hushed conversations coming from beyond the other set of doors at the end of the hall, the loud applause and cheering as an unheard voice shouted out a word.

The man stopped walking, and turned around to face her, giving her an encouraging smile. He ran a hand through his pale blonde hair, and his grin turned into an almost arrogant smirk.

"Or are we too chicken…?" She rolled her eyes, completely wiping off any signs of apprehension she might've had on her face. She strolled past him, ignoring a ghost that popped out of the wall to her left. It looked at her amusedly, said to no one in particular "Late bloomers, aren't we?" and disappeared through the doors.

The girl pushed them in slightly, taking a shaky breath, and tried not to thrust the doors open. Without glancing up at the room before her, she knew there would be stars pulsing above – just like the sky outside. The Great Hall was exactly like what she'd read; the four long tables occupied by students dressed in black, the equally long table at the front, which the witch with a parchment stood in front of. She was smiling along with the applause as a tiny raven-haired kid rushed from the stool he'd been sitting on, with the Sorting Hat still on. The students sitting under tapestries of scarlet and gold were by far the loudest amongst all the cheering.

A second later, it was as if someone had put a stopper on the festive mood, and a giant hand turned all the heads in the hall towards one direction. Bewildered eyes bore into the girl standing by the doors, seemingly out of place and lost. At the other end of the room, a few seconds too late, the Headmistress cleared her throat.

"Ah, Ms. Arianna Tremmons. Glad to finally have you join us."

The girl whirled around, but her companion was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

><p><em>Today was a relatively pleasant day. Dad was nowhere to be seen, presumably sleeping off another all-nighter. So I had the house, a dozen hours, and Callum all to myself. <em>

_ The Professor came over again yesterday, and he didn't come empty-handed. I like to read, and am pretty fast, but with all the material he brings me, it's as if he's afraid he won't get the chance to provide me with all that stuff ever again. _

_ Callum was still asleep then, which was a shame because he seems to really like having the Professor around. Sometimes, when Dad isn't looking, he'll let him grasp his wand. I guess one of the reasons why I know my little brother isn't magical is because even with an implement that pretty much creates all magic, he doesn't make anything happen. You should see what I've done with mine in the past._

_ We didn't do much; the Professor knew we were in town, and thought it would be good to catch up in case we didn't meet for a while. Mom was, of course, away. Probably one of the reasons why Dad was shut in his room, making endless phone calls with his clients, shut off from the rest of the world._

_ Oh yeah, he got me _Flying with the Cannons_! They're not my favourite team, per se, but I love that despite their decades-long losing streak, they've still got such an enormous fan base. And their Seeker is pretty cute too._

_ Callum loves the flying pictures. He tries to follow them with his chubby fingers, and literally gasps when they disappear from the page. But I'm careful about showing him my books. Last time I caught him flipping through _Dementors at a Dreadful Distance_, he had nightmares for a week and I didn't get over six hours of sleep for that whole time._

_ I also suspect that the Professor is trying to build up my anticipation for the upcoming British Easter Holidays. He's already convinced me that if I didn't get my letter, he'd give my Dad rat ears. Not that I would mind, of course, but I'd rather not let my three year old brother witness his parent in a worse mood than he already is in whenever the mention of magic is brought up around him. _

_ I really, really can't wait until September next year. The stuff in books is pretty intriguing, but imagine the real thing! I wouldn't sleep, knowing there'd be so much to learn and explore – and damn the "no wandering in hallways after dark" or whatever rules they have set in Hogwarts. There are passages right? I'll just find them and sneak around whenever. _

_ And the classes, they just sound unbelievable. I mean, I do well at my school, both academically and athletically. But seriously, how can algebra and reading _Hatchet _actually compare to the real-life excitement of making objects fly and transform into, say, pigs? And soccer, yeah, it sure is fun running full speed down a field, weaving around other players' legs dribbling a ball and shooting at a guarded net – but up in the air, fifty-feet above the ground, on _broomsticks_, just imagine! _

_ There is so much, so much to look forward to this year._

* * *

><p>"She doesn't look 11," a slightly dark-skinned girl whispered to her neighbours, but someone poked her sharply as Arianna walked past them. She pretended not to hear though. She was 14. Not that she was going to announce that for the whole world to hear.<p>

At the front, her back turned to the hundreds of eyes boring into her, she saw her companion slip as inconspicuously as possible into his seat. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he only gave her a tiny nod before gulping down the contents of his goblet.

Professor McGonagall gestured towards the stool, and called out to the students, "Mr. Stiller, would you please hand over the Hat to Ms. Tremmons here?"

"Li," Arianna said quietly, an uncomfortable knot in her stomach, "I'm Arianna Li."

Accompanied by muffled giggles, the first-year with the dark hair ran back up, thrusting the weather-beat Sorting Hat into the girl's hands, offering her a nervous, mostly likely embarrassed, smile. She jammed it onto her head, and at once the whispers and staring were shut off.

"Ah, why, good to see you," a voice said in her ear, "Come here to be sorted? A bit late, wouldn't one say?"

"You're not the first to notice," Arianna said aloud, uncertain whether he could hear her thoughts or not. The Hat chuckled.

"You're wondering if the rest of the school can hear our little conversation?" Arianna shuddered slightly, "Well don't worry, only those who know will."

"What?"

"Let's see… Got a bit of intelligence here, do we now? A bit of a bookworm, not bad qualities for a Ravenclaw. I can see loyalty, ah, great loyalty, once they've gained your trust. Quite a hard worker for something you're passionate about! And ambitious, not to say quite the well-used mind, and not only in a studying way. Let yourself go, and you'd make quite the leader! And, how did I not notice this at first, quite the courage!"

Arianna snorted, whether aloud or in her mind, she couldn't tell. _You're not exactly hitting the spot with your other descriptions, but brave? Me? You don't know me._

The Sorting Hat chuckled, uttered a brief hissing sound, and fell silent.

Arianna sat in silence for a few moments, before carefully lifting the still Hat off her head slowly. The din returned to her ears, the chattering considerably louder since the last surprising revelation she'd made.

The girl turned to the Headmistress, this time not bothering to hide a shiver going from head to foot. This had to be a record, this. It was a nightmare. It was all a whole, stinking nightmare.

"Did I – did I just not get sorted into a house?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Professor, Arianna could come sit with us," a voice called from amongst the dying uproar. The Headmistress had her wand out, the last of the subdued explosions she'd cast fizzing from its end. Said Arianna stared blankly towards the student body, seeing nothing in particular. Her thoughts chanted endlessly: _Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it…_

Someone in the audience clapped their hands together, and slowly everyone at the Gryffindor table took up the applause. The girl who'd called out waved at Arianna, who turned back to the staff table. Purposely ignoring the other professors, she glared indignantly at her companion. It was amazing, really, how he could raise his eyebrow and look at her sympathetically at the same time.

Groaning mentally, the chant in her head increasing in intensity, Arianna turned to Professor McGonagall. The Headmistress had the still Sorting Hat in hand; she all but shrugged and indicated the clapping and furiously whispering table.

"Off you go then, Ms. Li."

She would've stomped over to the Gryffindor table if it didn't make her look like she was throwing a temper tantrum.

"Hi," her red-haired mediator said as Arianna ducked her head and sat down at the end of the table, "I'm Rose."

"Hey, I'm Ari – Hi."

Up at the front, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Without further ado, or grand speeches, let the feast commence!"

Amongst the chuckling and resumption of conversations, Arianna grabbed her filled goblet and gulped the pumpkin juice down.

"Drumsticks?" A voice across from her asked. She lowered her goblet and found herself gazing into green eyes. She shook her head.

Did they expect her to be mind blown by the sudden appearance of mouth-watering food?

Arianna ate in silence, listening in to the conversations. From what she could pick up, Professor McGonagall's beginning of the year speeches were getting shorter each time, the Astronomy teacher was away for another rumoured year, and did anyone else think _that _girl was a Muggle who'd somehow breached Hogwarts' anti-Muggle spells?

People from different tables would go and talk to their friends from different houses, older and younger kids alike. Some of them would greet the new girl with a smile and sometimes a "Welcome to Hogwarts!"; perhaps it was just the circumstances, but no one acted like she didn't exist. Arianna could sense her previous panic settling into a kind of hopeful contentedness.

The girl named Rose turned to her halfway through her first plateful of food.

"Do you have a dorm yet?"

The boy sitting across from them who had offered Arianna drumsticks turned from his conversation with a bunch of older looking students from another table, and chuckled.

"Is that – is that supposed to be a joke?" Arianna wanted to hit herself. She hated not getting things and asking stupid questions.

Rose rolled her eyes, but Arianna almost sighed in relief when she realized it wasn't directed at her, "Nope. My cousin's just being an idiot."

"They have six girls in their dorm, two more than everyone else's rooms." Rose's cousin rolled his eyes.

"Oh, well – um that sounds like you've got a lot of people." Arianna said lamely. The boy looked up, something akin to alarm in his eyes.

"Oh – no, no that wasn't what I was implying –"

"Are you two hogging the newcomer for yourselves?" A brown haired face popped up from behind the green-eyed boy, "Move over guys." He squeezed in at the other side of the table, eyeing Rose's plate of piled-up food, "My, my Rosie, getting bigger than ever, are we not?"

"Haven't seen you around for a while James. Hanging out with your prefect buddies?" Rose said lightly, cutting a particularly large piece of lamb chop and dumping it along with the rest of her uneaten food.

"Shut up," James said, grinning, "Anyway, hi," he told Arianna, "I'm this really loud and annoying girl's cousin, and this extremely invisible and horrifyingly smart lad's big bro."

"Family of wizards eh?" Arianna said, amused. James smirked.

"You have no idea."

Just then, someone tapped her from behind, and almost instinctively, Arianna stiffened.

"Ms. Li, would you like to join me while preparations are made for you?"

Arianna stood up abruptly and smiling at the brothers and their cousin, she followed the Professor out of the Great Hall.

* * *

><p><em>It's happening again. Callum hasn't stopped crying for the most part, and Dad is shut in his room again. I would go into his room and sing him to sleep or something, but Mom's with him.<em>

_It started with me sharing my worries with her._

_It ended with me screaming the F-word at her and stomping off into my room._

_I've been reading _Hogwarts, A History – Renewed_ for the umpteenth time. The funny thing about reading is that every time I read something another time, I'll find some detail that I'd missed before. For example, I don't remember reading that the house elves had set up a fund in Gringotts to support elf rights in honour of the deceased War hero, Dobby._

_Okay, I'm distracting myself again. _

_I get it. It took me a while, but I think I get it. I get that there's an age difference, a generation gap, a cultural chasm, and the thing that seems to really mess things up between us – the fact that I'm a witch. I get that Mom's scared, Dad's in denial, the way he's acting it's like he's homophobic and his daughter just came out of the closet. In Dad's case, he avoids me both physically and emotionally, if that makes sense. After school I'll come home to find dinner, an empty home, and Callum is usually at his babysitter's place. I wonder if Mrs. Figgins gets paid for being a mother to my little brother. Would she still take care of him if she knew what I really am?_

_Being a witch is scary, because no one I know can help me adjust from living a normal, dull life into preparing for a whole different world. The Professor is the only person I know who knows and accepts me – it can't be hard seeing as he's a full-fledged wizard himself. He gets me books and has me on a Daily Prophet subscription. But there are things I can't tell him. I can't._

_According to him, I'll be making the friends of my life in Hogwarts. Maybe they'll understand what my parents refuse to._

_At least they still love Callum._

* * *

><p>"<em>Did you guys see where she went last night?"<em>

"_Where'd she sleep if she didn't..."_

"_She wasn't at breakfast, I don't think."_

"_Is she a first year? She's got to be the oldest first year Hogwarts has ever had."_

"_She's not even _British._..."_

"Since when does Herbology involve sitting at desks taking notes from a blackboard?" Someone groaned from the front row.

"Shut up your whining, Albert. You know there's a technical part to our O.W.L's in Herbs this year. Last year that sixth-year got an A because she didn't take enough notes and forgot who discovered Fanged Geraniums and when," Rose said, dumping her sack of books down beside the sandy-haired boy. Up at the black board, the Professor turned from directing a stream of chalk into forming words onto the board.

"Just listen in class and actually give a darn and you'll pass," the Herbology teacher said mildly, overhearing the conversation, "That's what your brother did last year," he said, indicating Albus.

The class sniggered, and Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin sitting behind her. James had gotten an O in Herbology the previous year, a subject he "abhorred even more than History of Magic". The whole family, Potters and Weasleys alike, had gone into an uproar; that summer, they received letter after letter inquiring whether _James Sirius Potter _had really gotten more than a Troll from all sorts of Hogwarts students.

"But _Herbology_ isn't a theoretical course…" Albert muttered irritatedly.

When the class finally settled down, someone knocked at the door, and the new girl came in, holding a slip of parchment. Several dozen eyes followed her to the front of the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor." Arianna said, swallowing her discomfort at the sudden attention, "Technically I don't have a timetable, but they told me…"

"Great to have you join us, Ms. Li," Neville Longbottom told her warmly, "There's an empty seat beside Mr. Malfoy there."

She handed him her note, and headed towards a waving pale blonde-haired boy with the Slytherin insignia sewn on his robe.

"Slytherins and Gryffindors sharing class and not killing each other? Something of a miracle eh?" Arianna whispered as she sat down on the chair pulled out for her, "Thanks."

The boy grinned, "Our year has got it easy. You'll see what I mean. I'm Scorpius, by the way."

Professor Longbottom started class then, and everyone stopped talking.

"Welcome to fifth-year Herbology. I hope you all have a copy of _Handbook to Magical and Mundane Plants and Herbs_. It's the only text you'll be learning from, and I know how much more interesting it is to get to work with the plants hands-on, but trust me when I say, you should all memorize your book letter by letter." The class either groaned, or laughed. Arianna glanced at the book Scorpius had taken out, stifling a half-snicker, half-exasperated sigh – the book looked to be a thousand pages long.

"For each week we're going to cover two to three chapters, one at the very least. Don't look so depressed now, the chapters themselves aren't that long, and it's not like you have lives outside of class anyway other than doing homework." Once again, the class was divided in expressions of apprehension and amusement.

"Half of the time, Professor Longbottom sneaks in some wordplay or jibe. He says he does it to keep us from falling asleep." Scorpius told his seating partner quietly.

"Do they?"

"Fall asleep? Hardly. He's a genius of a teacher, that one. Makes gardening more fun than telling your own future." Arianna wasn't sure how Divination ranked in her companion's preferences, but before she could ask, Professor Longbottom called in their direction.

"Mr. Malfoy. I hope you've done some summer reading? How many inflated leaves does a Bubbling Scroungehem have in the autumn?" Someone at the front of the class snorted. Scorpius's mouth went open.

Arianna muttered under her breath.

"Sorry?" The blonde boy said aloud.

"He said seven, unless if the Scroungehem is more than thirty-six months old in which it would lose one every two weeks, Professor." Arianna called out. She saw Rose give her a dubious look from her seat at the front, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh my, not bad. Five points for Slytherin." Professor Longbottom turned to spring another question on an unlucky student.

Arianna spent the rest of the period staring straight ahead, ignoring her companion's attempts at conversation, her mind mentally taking notes on the lesson beforehand. When the bell rang, she got up and tried not to run out the door.

"Tomorrow if I get my order of Bubbling Scroungehems, we'll get a start on that," Professor was telling the departing class, "Don't forget we'll be in the greenhouse at the North-East end. Ms. Li, a word please?"

Arianna threw a desperate glance at her departing adoptive housemates, but only got sympathetic, and curious, looks in return.

She turned back to the teacher, a polite smile etched on her lips. The green eyed boy from the previous night left last, his gaze seemingly burning through her, before closing the door behind him.

"How did you enjoy your first ever magic lesson?" The expression on the Professor's face was gentle, polite. Arianna relaxed a little.

"I enjoy actually being present in a class, instead of reading and learning everything by myself," she admitted.

"You fit in quite well, I must say. The fifth-years seem to have accepted you from what I've seen." Professor Longbottom finally scanned through the contents of her note from the beginning of the class, and might have missed Arianna's rueful smile.

"They can't exactly not accept someone who they have no idea is," she said quietly.

"Hmm… I see… I've got a few copies of the Handbook somewhere around here, I'll find them for you by tomorrow." Professor Longbottom handed her the slip of parchment, "I know you're a very bright witch Arianna, but if there's anything you want to talk about, don't hesitate to come to us, alright? And please know that the fifth-years are known for their proximity and acceptance." He smiled at her as Arianna blinked in surprise.

"Oh – well, I guess I'll keep that in mind. Thanks Professor. See you tomorrow!"

As if to reflect what the Herbology professor had just said, a group of Gryffindors were waiting outside of the classroom, apparently for her.

* * *

><p>That night, while most of the school was eating their second Hogwarts's dinner of the year, Arianna sank back into a wide armchair up in the Gryffindor common room. She hadn't felt like being the subject of people's silent inquiries, and had wasted half an hour wandering up and down corridors that she now was suspicious of not staying in the same place for long. It was just her luck, then, to have crossed paths with the gleeful poltergeist, who'd taken one look at her and cackled.<p>

"If you want, I'll show you to your common room."

Arianna gulped internally, but since she thought she couldn't get any more lost, she grudgingly followed the little man floating up and down familiar looking staircases.

"You're Peeves, right?" she asked him when he stopped in front of a portrait of a slumbering lady in pink. The poltergeist bowed, a mocking smile on his lips.

"At your service, m'lady."

"You're not going to pull some trick on me are you?" Peeves cackled and turned away, zooming away down the corridor and around the corner, his hand waving a casual goodbye.

"Have fun getting into the common room without the password!"

Arianna groaned. The Headmistress had said the password right in front of her last night, but she'd been too tired to pay much attention. What had it been again? Something to do with trotting – no galloping… galloping what? Horses?

The lady in the portrait stirred, rubbing her eyes.

"Password dear?" The Fat Lady slurred, covering a yawn.

"Er – I'm new, no one told me the password…" Galloping caves, galloping thestrals, galloping galleons –

"Galloping Gargoyles," a voice said behind her, making her jump. But when Arianna turned around, there was no one there.

The Fat Lady sighed, but swung forwards.

"I might just tell on you for suspicious behaviour if you keep doing that –" she said, her voice muffled. She swung shut again, preening her dress, the invisible person presumably already gone into the common room.

"Galloping Gargoyles." Arianna said firmly, clambering hurriedly through the hole in the wall before the Fat Lady could make any inquiries about her.

An hour later, still having no idea who the invisible entity had been who'd given her the password, Arianna yawned, her mind buzzing. So she was here now. She'd gotten into Hogwarts despite being too old, she was a fifth-year even though she was technically supposed to be a fourth-year, people seemed willing to include her into their already established friendship groups. People meaning Rose and her myriad of relatives. People who probably were just curious about her but were too polite, or nervous, to ask her outright who the bloody hell she was.

_They're pretty nice though. It's not like your peers in your old schools noticed your existence, _a pleasant voice in her head said. Arianna snorted. _Let's see how long that would last, _she told herself bitterly.

Earlier on, right after her first Herbology lesson, most of the people in her class had waited for her. Rose waved at her enthusiastically, everyone said their hello's, and they took off for their next lesson – Care of Magical Creatures. She tried to remember everyone's names, and to match those with the respective faces. Arianna partnered with Rose on their first assignment (trying to capture as many horned gnomes running around the Professor's, Hagrid's, pumpkin patch), and throughout the lesson, the red-head whispered furiously to her about all the people in the class (Arianna didn't really pay attention, being fascinated by the potato-like creatures diving away from the clutching fingers of her classmates).

During lunch, sitting beside a bunch of red-heads, she quickly took in the fact that they were pretty popular. She found herself staring at them all, racking her brains for a reason why they were so… _familiar_. And then it hit her. Rose. Rose Weasley. Albus and James Potter. _Harry Potter's kin had befriended her._

It was quite awkward then, when Albus caught her staring unseeingly at him. Arianna cleared her throat, and pretended to drink from her empty goblet.

"We're having a chess tournament in the library after dinner tonight, we never get homework on the first day. Wanna come?" It took her a moment to realize Albus was talking to her; she smiled awkwardly and nodded, reaching for more food.

_Damn it…_

James Potter seemed to be quite the attention gatherer, Arianna noticed later on. He and his dark-skinned friend, who she later learned to be another cousin, cracked jokes together while their friends roared with laughter. Albus would grin, his gaze sweeping around the Great Hall with a relaxed expression on his face. Rose ignored her male cousins completely, making conversation with other red-heads and the Malfoy boy from Slytherin. Arianna only realized she was officially part of the conversation when they turned to look at her, expectant looks on their faces.

"Er –"

"Oh, come on, the gnomes couldn't have been that bad, we'll get to jinx them to do tap dance next class or something." Rose said happily. The girl sitting beside her, who Arianna had picked up was another one of Rose's cousins, Lily, rolled her eyes.

"You're partnered with Arianna right? Make sure you don't bend to Rose's sadistic will. She tortures those poor things." Rose grinned, unabashed. Hearing their conversation, James Potter turned towards them, his eyebrow lifted.

"You're capturing gnomes? That's not like Hagrid. Who charms potato-heads in Hagrid's classes?"

"Not everyone likes being emotionally scarred by a centaur during a Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid probably thought that a mundane first class would make it up to us," Albus said mildly, amid snorts, "We were introduced to a centaur for our last lesson last year, with James's year. The guy was so offended by our presence he wouldn't stop listing all the gruesome ways we were gonna be killed and tortured if we laid one "dirty, mangled hand on him"." He explained to Arianna.

"Sounds a bit like Trelawney," Rose said lightly, and everyone laughed.

Arianna grinned weakly. She was being included. That was nice. But she wasn't sure how long they could keep the pretension.

Her thoughts pulled back to the present by the opening of the portrait hole, Arianna tried not to run up to the empty dormitory she had to herself; she was in no mood to socialize. She was so tired of pretending by this point that she would rather just be ignored, even if it meant her hopes of finding friends at Hogwarts were shattered.


	3. Chapter 3

_Dad hasn't looked at me in ages. Literally. You'd think that losing a member of your family would make everyone become closer to help each other deal with their grief, but it's the opposite with us. Callum doesn't seem to have understood that his mother will never ever be back; when he asked me, "Where's Mommy?" I told him that she was away. He said, "For how long?" I told him he'd see her again someday and he seemed to accept my answer without question. This isn't supposed to be my job. Dad's the adult. Why can't he take care of us?_

_ I told Professor when he came to visit us a week after Mom died that I wish she hadn't died. He told me that at least she loved me, and knew that I love her just as much. I told him that my last words to her were "Go to hell". _

* * *

><p>By the end of Arianna's first week at Hogwarts, her hopes were raised so high she could only expect for them to shatter soon, very soon, as they always were. She was moved into Rose's dormitory, people sort of accepted her sitting amongst them whether she spoke or not, and she'd even gotten points for Gryffindor every few classes. The lessons themselves were extremely interesting; Arianna found that she could keep up quite well (with some help from her seating partners, who didn't hesitate whispering to her on stuff they'd learnt earlier) – in short, it was like everything she'd hoped for from all of her previous schools. And really, when was the last time she'd said something hilarious and everyone had laughed along with her?<p>

If there was one thing she missed though, it was Quidditch. Quidditch tryout posters were already being posted up along hallways and in the common room. Arianna listened enviously to her companions' chatter about their previous flying experiences, the games they'd been to, the last Quidditch World Cup (Bangladesh vs. Brazil, the game lasted for 9 days with the latter as victor), what kinds of broomsticks they owned, whose parents had played for which team. From the previous year, Rose played back-up Chaser, James was, naturally, Seeker, Albus "found it beneath his standards to engage in such frivolous matters" (said his older brother, to which the green-eyed boy muttered indignantly, "I'm just not that good at it."). Another girl in Arianna's dorm, a tall pale-faced girl, played Beater, and Lily Potter was back-up Chaser.

"What's with all these back-ups?" Arianna asked Rose one evening in the library, their table piled high with Charms books, "Are there so many good Gryffindor players they just decided to accept you all?" The red-head smirked.

"You should see Slytherin's team. They've got so many players only half of them played an actual game last year. But yeah, we've got a lot of good players, and I don't mean to sound snobbish, but a lot my cousins happen to be pretty talented. But you can't have a team of just Weasleys and Potters now can we? So Alyssa, our captain, puts us on maybe one or two games so that the older students can play as much as possible before they graduate. I might not try out this year though, seeing as O.W.L.s are coming up…"

"But aren't you guaranteed to make it? It's not like anyone's gonna try out for Seeker, everyone seems to have just accepted that James will make it." Arianna realized that she always made James sound out to be some arrogant prat in her head, but he wasn't that bad. She could tell he liked attention, seeing as he and Fred Weasley were never seen anywhere without a band of sixth-year Gryffindors, chortling over some prank they'd pulled. But he was nice, he treated her just like anyone else. It was Albus that bothered her somewhat. Not that he was unpleasant or anything, but seriously. It was slightly unnerving how it seemed like he could see everything going on around him.

"Yeah well, he's James. He talks big, but he's actually as good as he makes himself out to be. You know, you should try out. Whether you make back-up or full-time, you get to go to all the practices. It takes a big chunk out of your time for homework, but it's well worth it. Our team members are really great people." Arianna chuckled a bit nervously.

"Er – well, I've never flown before." If she thought Rose would look at her as if she was a freak, she was wrong. Her roommate smiled broadly.

"So? My uncle who'd never been on a broom in his life did like a Wronski Feint-like technique his first time on a broom."

"Does your uncle happen to be Harry Potter?" Arianna said, rolling her eyes. Rose smiled guiltily.

"Yeah, well –"

"He's kind of, just, you know, a tiny bit, _amazing_ at Quidditch?" Arianna said lightly, gathering up her parchment and quills and standing up, stretching. It was the end of the week, the fifth-years' list of assignments was piling up steadily, and she'd hardly slept the previous night. Rose frowned down at something she'd written, scratched it out, and followed suit, a satisfied look on her face.

"Point taken. But I'm still dragging you to tryouts tomorrow."

But come tryouts, Rose Weasley could not find her new friend anywhere.

* * *

><p>Arianna couldn't sleep again. She was tired enough to feel like if she'd just close her eyes and relax, she'd quickly drift off into unconsciousness. But she was too terrified.<p>

Pissed, the sleep-deprived girl yanked off her covers, drew back the curtains and sat up. In the bed beside hers, she heard a disgruntled Rose flip over in her sleep, muttering something unintelligible. Arianna stared into the shadows of her friend's four-poster bed, feeling a bit guilty for ditching out on her. When she skipped out on the chess game she'd been invited to by Albus, she was worried he'd pester her with questions the next day, but he seemed to have politely left her alone without completely ignoring her existence. The thought of trying something new that she wasn't certain she wouldn't make a fool out of herself of scared Arianna, but she didn't know how she could explain that to her peers. "I'm afraid of what you'll think of me and for making a fool out of myself" hardly seemed like something that would come out of her mouth.

Arianna sighed in frustration. What would she tell Rose? In truth, she'd pulled an all nighter, snuck into the Hospital Wing before her dorm mates had woken up, and complained of an intense headache that had kept her up all night. She'd used the excuse "I was sick therefore I ditched out on my activities" too many times in her life for her own moral tastes. If she truly wanted a new beginning at Hogwarts, she would need to drop her old acts, her bad habits. She would need to become someone completely different.

Arianna threw herself back onto her pillow, stifling a scream of frustration. When her anxiety had finally dulled, and she'd drifted off into a natural sleep, her dreams were full of distorted images of a toddler, an elementary school boy, raven-haired, screaming, crying, a large man suffocating her –

"GO TO HELL!" –

pale unmoving seeming asleep – and always, always that one phrase: "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Even after she'd woken up a few hours later, her head rang with the ghostly voices of her past yelling for her, screaming at her. The first thing she thought when she bolted upright, sweat dripping down the back of her neck, breath heaving from already forgotten nightmares, were the words: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry".


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, were you alright yesterday?"

"Huh?" Arianna's eyes flickered open, and she lifted her head from her arms. "Couldn't find you anywhere, we heard you were at the Hospital Wing for the whole day…" Arianna blinked in surprise. They were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, plenty of people groaning and stretching from stiff muscles from Quidditch tryouts for their respective houses the previous day. Rose picked up more toast and buttered it.

"Yeah, just had a really bad headache, Madame Pomfrey gave me some weird gooey-looking potion and had me catch up on some sleep. Wait, how did you know I went there?" Rose grinned guiltily.

"Sort of a family secret, sorry. I'll explain later."

Arianna had considered sleeping through breakfast, but past experience had taught her that once she was on a roll with skipping things, it was extremely hard to pick herself back up again. Better to get a routine back on before she started skipping classes altogether.

A cloud of owls swept into the Hall then, dropping down in front of their owners, knocking down goblets. Arianna ignored them; it was not like she'd ever get any post herself.

"Did you – did you make it on the team?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"They should have the results up sometime today –"

Down at the other end of the table, cheers erupted. The two friends craned their necks to see James Potter punching the air in triumph, while his friends slapped him on the back. Catching Albus's eye, who was applauding his brother politely (mockingly), he mouthed to them, "He got Seeker."

Arianna rolled her eyes, and turned back to her untouched food. A moment later, Albus slipped into a seat across from them.

"Delivering Quidditch results by owl, perfect opportunity for my brother to flaunt his ego." Rose snorted, and Albus peered closely at Arianna, "And you, you look like a zombie."

"Oh," she said, waving her hand airily as two owls landed in front of Rose, "I slept like the dead last night."

It turned out one of the owls was for her. The tawny brown bird hopped onto her plate, completely disregarding the single toast lying there, hooted cheerfully, and dropped down like a sack of rocks. Arianna gawked.

"Well I made backup Chaser again," Rose said beside her, sounding uninterested as she put the letter into her robes, "Don't tell me you made the team without trying out."

Arianna shook her head dumbly, took off the tied parchment from the seemingly dead owl's jutted out talons. The moment she began to open it, the owl hopped up again, a crooked smile spreading across its beak, and did an awkward half salute, before taking up into the air.

"That's one… enthusiastic owl you got there." Albus said, not bothering to hide a smirk.

"Never met him in my life…" The writing on the yellowed parchment was in cursive, the loops exaggerated, the letters thin and slanting. For a second Arianna didn't recognize any of the words, but it dawned on her that the letter was in French.

"So, you get accepted into some foreign school or something?" Rose was attempting to decipher the words, "Gah, what's the point of sending someone a letter they wouldn't be able to read? And who would?"

"It's French," Arianna muttered, "And it's from… my mom." The letter ended with "tu me manques, Maman" (I miss you, Mom).

"Your mom speaks French? You understand French? Wow, that's so cool!" She saw the expression on Arianna's face and went silent.

"Would you guys excuse me?" The new girl said quietly, before sweeping out of the noisy hall. Rose turned to her cousin, bewildered.

"Did I say something wrong?" Albus was staring after their retreating companion, his fingers picking absent-mindedly at the crumbs on his plate.

"If it's something she wants people to know, she'll tell them herself." He said quietly, before turning back to his red-headed cousin and proceeded to ask her how long she expected to play backup before being an official member of Gryffindor's Quidditch team.

* * *

><p>It'd been a while since she'd read French. Back at home, half a world away, she'd been in French Immersion for more than half of her educational life. She had run out to the school's grounds, walked around the Black Lake and sat down to read through her letter. Lily Potter had intercepted her along the way, telling her cheerfully she was back on the Gryffindor team. She had put on her most sincere smile, before turning and heading away from where most of Hogwart's students were still at.<p>

_ Ma fille, _the letter read,

_Oh que tu me manques. Je sais qu'il y a de fois où, où c'est meilleur qu'on n'est pas ensemble. Mais ça fait si longtemps que j'ai vu ton père, et ils me disent que je ne peux pas te voir. Tu es heureuse, ils me disent. On dit que je dois te laisser être heureuse, toi, si jeune. Je regrette que je ne puisse pas être l__à__ avec toi. _

_ Tu me manques,_

_ Maman_

Arianna blinked furiously, her head spinning. She was already light-headed from the few hours of sleep she'd gotten, but this letter, it made everything seem surreal. The cool autumn breeze sent shivers down her back, the rustlings from the Forest in the short distance making her paranoid. If she'd chanced to glance up at that very moment, she would've sworn she'd seen a lone tentacle rising up in the middle of the Black Lake.

It took her having to read the short letter half a dozen times before Arianna really understood its implications.

* * *

><p>That night, while everyone was sleeping soundly, Arianna couldn't stifle the stream of tears flooding down from her eyes.<p>

_Dammit, my eyes are going to be swollen tomorrow… _she thought miserably. She heard Rose roll over in her sleep, the next moment curtains being drawn, and footsteps softly approaching her.

"Arianna, you – you alright?" Arianna bristled, her breath hitching. She relaxed when she realized Rose couldn't possibly hear her silent tears. She cleared her throat and spoke as normally as she could.

"Yeah, thanks Rose. I think I had a bit too much to eat during dinner." She'd binged her guts out. Rose chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, we noticed. Albus said it looked like you couldn't even tell what you were eating." Arianna couldn't the green-eyed boy, who had plenty of friends of his own, leave her alone? Somewhere in the back of her mind, her rationality told her Albus had done nothing but observe the obvious, but she pushed the thought away. It was way easier painting the world in black and white while she was in one of these moods.

"Haha… I hardly had anything throughout the day, I was starving." She'd lost her appetite reading the letter.

On the other side of her drawn curtains, she could hear Rose shuffling her feet uncomfortably. Arianna was glad her roommate couldn't see her face right now.

"Okay, well, you – you know that if you want to talk, I'm here to listen." Arianna couldn't help snorting. She could imagine Rose frowning, "No seriously. It's not like I'm going to laugh at you or tell the whole school, I'm not that kind of a person, you should know that by now." A deep breath.

"Sorry Rose." Arianna said tentatively. In truth, she hardly knew anything about her new friend, other than the fact that she was always hanging out with her, had saved her from being house-less, and always had a cheerful complexion. From Arianna's world, cheerful people either had no worries (which disgusted her), or were hiding from the world (which disgusted her as well, but she couldn't really be talking). She couldn't tell which of the two categories Rose belonged to.

A heavy silence settled on them. Arianna pulled her covers over her head, wishing the darkness could sweep away her problems instead of suffocating her. She heard Rose pour water into one of the provided goblets in the dormitory. The other occupants in the room hardly stirred, and for a wild panicked moment Arianna imagined them to be awake, eavesdropping on them. She imagined pressing her blankets against her nose, choking out the ripping sensation somewhere in her core.

"My mom's dead." she said to no one in particular. Silence. Then…

"So that letter was a fake?" Unless Rose was an exceptional actress, she sounded sincere, with no hint of judgement in her voice, "I'd ask if it could have possibly been misdelivered, but even with that drunken owl, I don't believe it was sent to the wrong person. It's not like any of us can read French…" She was rambling, Arianna realized.

"I'm adopted." she told the girl on the other side of the curtains, "My adoptive mom died."

"Do you – do you think that letter could've been from…"  
>"A fake? My real mother? I don't know. It doesn't make sense." She could imagine Rose fidgeting uncomfortably with what to say without making it any more awkward than it already was.<p>

"Arianna, if we go to sleep, maybe it'll be easier to think of what's going on tomorrow morning? It's the middle of the night, you can't blame yourself for not feeling like the most alive person in the world." Arianna felt the corners of her lips lift.

"I can't though… I don't want to."

"Have you ever had a sleepover?"  
>"What?"<p>

"Me and my cousins, we did those all the time. We'd be full of energy throughout the day, we'd promise our terror-stricken parents that we'd stay up all night, but come bedtime, while we snuggled beside each other, whispering and giggling, we'd always somehow end up dozing off." A mental image of a roomful of gingers squished beside one another flashed behind Arianna's closed eyelids, and she couldn't help but grin.

"I'm jealous. I've never been to a sleepover I enjoyed, and my cousins are all shallow materialistic morons who didn't pass a chance while we were younger to point out that I would never belong with their family. And I only have like three cousins…"

"You idiot, I'm proposing a sleepover to you." Arianna's laugh was followed by a grunt from one of the other girls in the room.

"A sleepover with a girl in my own dorm in a bed that's too small for one occupant, let alone two? Don't tell me you're bisexual."

"Don't tell me you're homophobic." If the red-head saw her tears, she made no mention of it.

For the first time in ages, Arianna fell asleep without a knot of panic in her stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

To make it up to Rose, Arianna decided to come watch their first practice the next Saturday. The red-head had made no mention of Arianna's breakdown throughout the week, nor did she act like it never happened. When Scorpius had shot his eyebrows up when the two of them had come down late for breakfast the next day, Rose simply told him, "We had a sleepover".

Being a bookworm for most of her life really paid off. The books the Professor had brought Arianna kept her up to date with the majority of the curriculum, and the hours of secluded self-taught lessons insured that she could actually handle a wand. The fourteen year old still had trouble sleeping at a decent time, but Rose would stay up with her in the common room going over their lessons, sharing notes and generally being someone Arianna could not have imagined she would ever have.

"Why in Merlin's name are you not in Ravenclaw?" she asked her friend one late night, staring at her incredulously as the redhead recited off the top of her head the twenty-one official uses of Bubbling Scroungehems. Rose went slightly pink.

"My parents happen to be the some of the smartest, and funniest, witch and wizard in their generation. I mean, there was a fifty-fifty percent chance I'd inherit either or, and I got the brains side of the family. Hugo has more of the jokester genes between the two of us." Rose's third-year brother never even spoke when Arianna was around, but she neglected to point that out, "You're not bad yourself, you've technically skipped four years, first person to ever do so I might add, and you're not even near the bottom in the class. Not counting some of your astonishing inexperience (you act like you've never seen a gnome in your life), you've got one of the brightest minds in our year." It was Arianna's turn to blush.

"But really, I haven't seen a gnome in my life. Nor moving portraits. Nor flailing plants, or those disc-shaped worms Hagrid's got us sketching. My parents were Muggles." Rose hit her head.

"Merlin, sorry Ari. I'm an insensitive git, I know." No one had ever called her Ari before. She decided she quite liked it.

"Not your fault. I never told you."

So now having accepted Rose Weasley as an actual friend who was more than decent, Arianna tried not to trail miserably behind as they headed toward the Quidditch pitch Saturday morning. Arianna had her schoolbag in hand, convinced that she'd get bored eventually and could spend some time getting ahead on class work.

"Morning m'ladies! Ready for the sweaty, panting, overheating task at hand?" James popped up between them, Fred Weasley skipping ahead to walk backwards. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Not me," Arianna said cheerfully, "I've got the whole day ahead of me to sit miserably by myself in the stands, studying my brains out while secretly jinxing everyone to crash into the goal posts."

"Most excellent way to spend your precious hours." James said solemnly.

"Ehh, you could be crashing along with us if you'd been at tryouts. Rose couldn't stop gloating about how she finally had a non-relative to play Quidditch with her." Fred told her, almost accusingly. Arianna swallowed the small bubble of guilt rising up her throat.

"She already told us didn't she? Ari's the type of girl who'd rather be the jinxer than the crasher." There was almost no trace of defensiveness in Rose's voice.

Watching the dozen Gryffindors flying above the Quidditch pitch, diving, doing somersaults in the air, Arianna felt a longing in the pit of her stomach. She'd never flown before, she didn't even know if she could mount a broomstick without slipping off at the other end. Rose was a fine flyer, she could tell, manoeuvring gracefully on her Cleensweep Fifteen. Her problem was that she didn't stop very well, and her passes were not always accurate. Fred, one of the two Beaters, had an aggressive hit, impeccable aim, but his balance was off, and he would usually finish a swing by flipping upside down in midair. Lily, the only third-year and youngest member of the team, played just as well as every other Chaser, and that probably explained why she was a "full-time" player.

James Sirius Potter had a self-satisfied smirk on his face the whole practice – except while he was playing. It being the first practice of the year, and despite the team having no new additional players (so everyone was familiar with the game and their teammates), Alyssa Starhawk had them drilling, mimicking game sequences. James's face was set in concentrated determinedness, as if he would settle for nothing less than perfecting everything thrown at him. Later on, when they were finally allowed to play a mini game against the other half of the team, Arianna couldn't help but notice how James's eyes swept across the whole scene underneath him, much like there was no miniscule detail that could escape him. The resemblance to Albus at that moment was so uncanny it made her shiver.

Halfway through her Potions essay (is it better to use a pewter-base cauldron or a solid stone one to brew the Draught of Peace, and why? it was way harder than the Potions master had made it seem), Arianna chanced a glance at James. He was hanging upside down on his broom, watching and laughing at a drill Fred and the other Beater, Arianna's roommate, were doing. He caught her gaze, and grinned at her, flipping upright. He flew towards the stands, hopping off his broom to land right in front of her.

"Alyssa promised us a game by the end of today. We're missing a Keeper," he indicated the field behind him with his head, panting slightly, "Wanna play?"

Arianna raised her eyebrows and stared, speechless.

"Never flown –" she started, but James ignored her, turning to the pitch and hollering.

"Oi! Alyssa!"

The team captain frowned, but flew closer. She was quite an intimidating figure, thought Arianna. She'd seen the seventh-year in the hallways a few times the past week, and the dark-skinned girl had been like any other girl. But here out on the Quidditch pitch, she was like a reincarnation of all the strict, serious teachers Arianna had ever had.

"Miss Arianna here is a perfect practice for our Chasers to score on. She looks the other half of bookworm Rose that I couldn't help but want to drag her into something so much more fun than homework." Alyssa's set expression didn't budge as she turned to the indignant fifth-year.

"You ever flown before?"

"No, I tried telling James, sorry –"

"You were watching us practice? Tell me something this idiot needs to work on." Arianna hesitated, trying to decipher the captain's hardened look.

"Well… James likes to fly recklessly… I know –" she added hastily, seeing the mockingly hurt look on the boy's face, "that he enjoys the speed, that it can give him advantage over another team's Seeker in that last second before catching the Snitch, but it leaves him vulnerable and unbalanced, so say someone tries to knock him over, or a Bludger – just say – hits him, he'll have a harder time regaining his senses, and well, a lot of things can happen in a game in the span of a few seconds. He has a sort of a raw technique to his flying, if he can, say, "smooth" it down so that he's not just fully invested in the speed, but also fully conscious of everything around him as he's zooming on his broom, well, I guess that'd make him an even better Seeker than he already is."

A small grin appeared on Alyssa's face, and James pretended to be choking.

"Aaargh… the pain… of being criticized… it hurts… make it stop –" He shut up at his captain's look, "Oh come on, let her play? It's not everyday a person can see the happenings of a Quidditch practice out the top of their head while they're writing. I'll buy you some Butterbeer at Hogsmeade." James flashed her what was probably supposed to be a winning smile.

Alyssa's smile vanished.

"You, stop flirting," she growled at the chestnut-haired boy, "And you, if you're decent enough as a first-time flyer, we might just have you play back-up. No one else ever tries out for Keeper, it'd be nice to have a reserve player for the one position that doesn't have one."

Two hours later, the mysterious new girl who had skipped four years, didn't have a House, and who people still whispered about had made the Quidditch team the first time she'd ever even been on a broom.


	6. Chapter 6

_"Could she even _fly_?" _

_ "What if she was, I dunno, a Veela or something? You know, Veela blood, Veela in disguise? Would explain how she would've managed to convince everyone to give her everything she wants…"_

_ "Might even explain how she got _James Potter _to get her on the team… except she's not even pretty…"_

"Why does Alyssa react so badly to James flirting with her?" Arianna asked Rose one Transfiguration class after Quidditch practice. They were taking notes on the technical part of being an Animagus, with Professor McGonagall in her cat form at the front of the class, staring sternly at them all. The Headmistress was one of the few Heads of Hogwarts who had kept their teaching posts after being appointed Head. Rose had mentioned that she and her cousins were arrogant enough to think that since McGonagall had known their parents, she'd let them off when caught breaking rules. On the contrary, the Headmistress would take excessive points off her former House.

Rose snorted, then glanced hurriedly up to see whether the cat had moved. Satisfied that all was clear, she said under her breath, "James is a cocky, arrogant, self-smug, self-serving _git_… but no one but his family realizes that. Either that or they're in denial because he's popular, is Seeker, Prefect, does decent in school, is nice, flirts, and is Harry Potter's son."

"He's good looking." Arianna said without thinking. Rose groaned.

"Yeah well you're not the only one who thinks so. People like him for such _shallow _reasons!" She knew that if Rose could've done so without attracting unnecessary attention, she would've flung her hands in the air. Arianna hid her embarrassment with a knowing expression.

"You two get along perfectly well eh?"

"Well I'll give him this; he never goes out with anyone that he's not serious about. Alyssa's best friend who graduated last year fell hard for James, and for a while it seemed like he was getting serious about her as well. But it turned out he stopped liking her, and being the selfless hero he is, he went up to her and told her that, bluntly. Ruined her life, in a way."

"Well he told her the truth didn't he? And it's not like it's his fault he stopped liking her, and that she reacted so badly to his rejection. Not his fault she wasn't a strong person." Rose gaped at her, "What?"

"You," the redhead said, jabbing her quill at Arianna, "have never been in love, or had intense feelings for a guy, have you?" Arianna swatted the feather away.

"And you have?"

"Well whatever. Either way, my idiot cousin broke her heart, and went about shamelessly with his flirting ways. Alyssa doesn't care for meaningless shows of affection, especially not from James. Gah, you'd think Dad would give us a lesson on turning into animals seeing as he's one…"

"Your Dad's an Animagus? And you still haven't answered whether you've been in love –"

"Ms. Li, Ms. Weasley, seeing as the two of you are so preoccupied with learning the task at hand, can either of you tell me the first being who termed the ability of being able to morph into an animal form?" Professor McGonagall materialized soundlessly in front of the girls, peering down at them through her spectacles.

"Morgan Le Fay." The girls chimed in unison. A few tables in front of them, Arianna saw Albus grin at the pair. Professor McGonagall sighed.

"With brains as stuffed as the two of you, you might as well use them for higher purposes than gossip… such as scribbling half-legible words on your parchments. Go on, Miss Li, take your chair and find yourself a different seating plan." Arianna tried to smother the indignation she felt from showing on her face. Picking up her untouched supplies, she dragged her chair over to Albus's desk, which he was sharing with a Hufflepuff she did not recognize. The blonde-haired boy grinned at her as she opened her books, and started on the task at hand.

"You got the Headmistress to be sarcastic. Reprovingly, but still. And hey, I'm Royce."

"Arianna," she told the Hufflepuff, trying not to be annoyed with him. He was just trying to be polite, but if she didn't finish this assignment by the end of the period, she'd have even more homework. She started flipping through her textbook, looking for anecdotes of what it felt like to turn oneself into an animal.

"Heard about your Quidditch conquest, where'd you learn to fly? And all these lessons as well, were you raised –"

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat at the front of the classroom, and Royce fell silent. Arianna stared straight ahead, wiping her face blank. Royce already annoyed her to no ends prying into her affairs like that, but at least he was… sincere enough to ask her straight out about it. The rest of the school probably wondered the same things, but were probably just too chicken to do anything but whisper about it behind her back.

For one fleeting moment, Arianna had a sudden urge to turn to Albus to see his expression.

"Now you might be wondering why we are covering a topic you've already been through in your third year," Professor McGonagall said to the silent class, "There is more to the subject of Animagi than we previously covered, and before we go on with this unit, I wanted to make sure you haven't forgotten everything you've already learnt. For that purpose, I want an essay stating everything you know about this topic, due next class." Arianna could imagine everyone groaning internally.

"The other reason for which we are returning to this subject is because the Ministry is requiring us to actually teach students to become Animagi." At that, people exchanged looks of surprise, apprehension, and puzzlement, "The curriculum requires me to teach you how to turn into an animal at will, without a wand; however, you will be graded on your improvement, effort, skill, and not on whether you actually become a full-fledged Animagus. Therefore it may or may not be required for you to demonstrate your skills during your O.W.L.s.

A lot of theoretic work goes into the process of becoming an Animagus, at least if you want to do so safely. However, the Ministry has given permission to go hands-on if the lot of you are… able to acquire the skills of an Animagus."

Half an hour later, after being made to do concentration exercises for the latter half of the class ("Concentration is of the utmost importance, and not just for this unit. It will aid you greatly in your exams, and later on in life just as much."), their heads buzzing, Rose, Arianna, and Albus plopped tiredly down on the Gryffindor table. Arianna buried her head in her arms, and only half listened to the conversations around her.

"You lot look like you've been to Azkaban," James voice said, "What'd you just have, Defence Against the Life-Energy-Sucking Dementor Look-Alikes?"

"Haha. You'd think turning into animals was so easy what with even Dad being able to. You'd think Transfig was above making you thinking so hard your head explodes while trying to make your wand eject petunias from pure concentration." Rose groaned bad-temperedly. Several people exclaimed words along the lines of how the fifth-years could possibly be learning such advanced Transfiguration, some muttering in indignation how they never got the chance to learn about turning into animals beyond third-year.

"Oh come on. It can't be that bad!" James said, a smirk evident in his voice.

"You wouldn't understand." Rose, Albus, and Arianna said simultaneously.

_You wouldn't understand…_

* * *

><p><em>My biggest regret in my life other than blowing off my mom right before she died? Blowing off my father the last time he acted like he loved me.<em>

_ "Arianna… what's wrong?" _

_ "You wouldn't understand!"_

_ "Honey, please, talk to me –" I ran out on him, slamming the door in his face._

_ When I came back, I was with the Professor, my head ringing with every conversation my Dad had with me about being normal, and not being a freak. That night, I told my parents I was a witch. _

_ You wouldn't understand… why couldn't I ******** say something charming to my parent who would never look at me again without a hint of hatred in his eye after that night? _


	7. Chapter 7

Arianna had already been at Hogwarts for a month before she consciously realized just how at home she felt in the giant castle. She was never good with routines, always procrastinating and not giving a crap about schoolwork, but she found that she quite enjoyed the pace of her wizarding school life. She'd never had so much homework before either, but neither had she had people who she could work with every day.

Quidditch was also taking over her school life. There was practice three times a week, and Alyssa had them drilling until it was too dark to see their hands in front of their faces. Arianna still had trouble keeping her balance on her borrowed broom, and although she suspected only a few people could tell, it really didn't help that she was afraid of heights. Nevertheless, the captain had her practicing just like every other member of the team, weaving, flying in formations, diving, pulling up at the very last possible moment. Marco Stephenson, who'd played Keeper since his second year, caught her up on her Keeper duties, and by the first few practices, Arianna liked to think that she truly belonged to the team.

Hogsmeade visits were starting soon, and Arianna still didn't have a permission slip to give to the school. Rose suggested charming the signature on the daily letters Arianna got from her "Mom" and make it seem like she'd gotten permission, but even the redhead sounded doubtful.

"Who first told you you're a witch?" Scorpius asked her. The blonde, Rose, Arianna, Albus, and a bunch of other people in their Herbology class had gathered in the library, going over what they'd learnt so far; Professor Longbottom had hinted they'd be quizzed on all the theory and hands-on things they'd been taught that month next class – "Or maybe not, you know, you never know".

"Your dad." Arianna said lightly, keeping her eyes glued to the dusty book opened in front of her. Someone choked.

"What the f –"

"What, he never told you?" Arianna looked up then, and nearly burst out laughing. The expressions on her friends' faces made them look like someone had just told them their fathers were actually house-elves.

Professor Malfoy taught Defence Against the Dark Arts. Scorpius always acted like it was the most challenging thing ever to have his father teach him every few times a week. Arianna always acted like Malfoy hadn't been the first person to have revealed to her a world beyond the one she was born into.

Scorpius gaped at her.

"Oh come one," she said teasingly, turning back to the assignment, "He never told you he had Hogwarts business? I don't see why that's such a big deal."

"I always assumed he was picking things up for the school or something…"

"Well I think it's safe to say it might be awkward to let him sign your permission slip for you," Albus said, a laugh evident in his voice.

"Bollocks." Arianna said sarcastically.

When she thought about it later, Arianna wondered who told Scorpius that her parents weren't the ones who'd told her she was a witch (which sort of implied they were Muggles). She found she didn't really care.

* * *

><p>Come Hogsmeade weekend, Arianna said goodbye to Rose and was about shut herself inside her dormitory when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She swung around, and blinked. There was no one there.<p>

"What, you're just going to stay here and bury yourself in your bookwormish deeds?" That voice…

"James –"

The sixth-year appeared in front of her, holding a shimmering material in his hands. His grin spread at the look on her face.

"Invisibility Cloak," he said, thrusting the garment towards her, "What are you waiting for? Put it on and follow me. Try not to hit anything, this Cloak keeps you concealed but not untouchable."

Arianna felt the flowing material in her hands gingerly, but seeing the serious look in James's eyes, she threw it over her head.

"So… uh – I'm invisible?"

"Invisible as a Demiguise. Come on."

Downstairs, Professor McGonagall awaited them, a pile of parchments in her arms.

"Mr. Potter, hurry along now. Please don't pull anything while you're there."

"Me Professor? Never." James's silly grin was plastered all over his face.

Half an hour later, they were inside an overcrowded joke shop, Arianna gawking at all the shelves of the most ridiculous things she'd ever seen. James quickly stuffed his Cloak beneath his robe and nodded towards a group of his cousins.

"Come on, let's introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Well at the very least, a pair of them."

"Oooh introducing me to family already?" Arianna said playfully. James's eyebrows shot up. Arianna tried not to strangle herself.

"Didn't know you had it in you kid…"

To the fifth-year's immense relief, Rose spotted the pair then and waved. Arianna tried not to barrel through the crowd as she reached the safety of her friends.

"Did you know I was going to be here today?" She almost hissed at the redhead. Rose looked at her concernedly, and Arianna rubbed her temples, "Sorry, I'll explain later…"

"Hey Uncle George! How's the business running?"

Arianna looked up to see a… surprise! redheaded man, surrounded by his kin and various other Hogwarts students. He was tall, resembled Fred Weasley in so many aspects except for his lighter skin tone, and he carried a stack of boxes of which the contents were making holes and dents into the cardboard. Mr. Weasley threw his boxes into the air, and they zoomed obediently up to the ceiling where they flipped around and spilled their contents over the students' heads.

"Unwetting Rain, whoever comes up with its best uses wins fifty galleons! Bargain for a new product!" George Weasley watched the students shriek and jump as rainwater poured like a flood onto their heads, "Oh hi James, it's been going well, not bad… How're the Prefect duties turning you? Preferably not into your Uncle Percy?"

"Not at all Uncle George," James grinned while Rose whispered to Arianna exactly how their uncle Percy was known to be, "This is Arianna Li. Arianna, Uncle George."

Mr. Weasley wiped his hands on his Muggle clothing, and shook hands with her, "Been hearing a lot of you from all the letters I've been getting. Canary Cream?"

"R-really? Oh, th-thanks!"

"I've got to tend to the shop, but your mother's here somewhere, she can take you kids out for Butterbeers… Fred where's your sister gone to?"

Arianna turned to watch a bustling crowd of students gazing just as awe-struck as she was at the merchandise. She felt her gaze sweep from one shelf of furry creatures bouncing happily, to another dome shaped table hanging over levitated cups. Scraps of paper airplanes and dragons whizzed above the customers' heads, weaving through the charmed ceiling that was magicked to flash different words in bright colours every few seconds. She saw a group of make-up heavy girls picking up pink vials, sniffing them, giggling furiously. An elongated table was specifically set for food samples; Arianna watched as Albert, a Slytherin in her Herbology class, picked up a watermelon slice, bite into it, and promptly sprout whale fins all over his body. A dark-skinned woman picked her way carefully around the children, smiling and pointing out different parts of the shop to the people who turned to talk to her. She waved in Arianna's direction, and a small voice from the door to the shop shrieked, "Mum!" before a streak of red hair pushed through the crowd to jump into Angelina Weasley's arms.

By the time Arianna and the Potters and Weasleys were following Mrs. Weasley out of the joke shop, they each carried an assortment of joke objects in bags that kept turning into animals. Arianna's bag kept morphing into a boar, its tusks always inches away from poking the backside of the person in front of her.

She'd turned to watch Mr. Weasley before leaving the shop, remembering all that she'd read about him and his family. She couldn't imagine being torn apart from one's other half. She knew Fred Weasley Sr., who the Fred she knew was named after, had been twins with Mr. Weasley. She'd seen articles pitying all the losses from the Second Wizarding War, she'd read the well-wishes witches and wizards sent to the Daily Prophet to be read by those who had lost someone. The thing was, everyone had lost something in the Wars, everyone had been in danger. But she felt it was extremely cruel to forever separate twins who Arianna imagined to have spent every second awake together. What was it like for George Weasley for all those years? What was it like now for him to still have to live without his twin more than two decades later? What would it be like for him to never have the other half of him with him for the rest of his life?

George Weasley caught her eye then, and perhaps it was just Arianna's imagination, but she thought she saw the twinkle in his eye falter for a split second. She kept her own face blank, as if she hadn't just been evaluating a man she'd never even met until today, and put as much warmth into her smile as possible before turning around and following her friends out of the shop.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys, thanks to everyone who's been reading my fanfic, and for the reviews (the two here lol, and the ones on facebook :P) Feel free to let me know how you feel about this story, my writing, constructive criticism is always appreciated :)

I've stayed 'til way past midnight for two days in a row, a bit obsessed with writing this hahaa :P (it's nearing 2:30 am where I'm at now xD) I'll try and proofread through this chapter, and the previous ones when I'm in a much more clear-headed mood.

See you guys when I update next, which will be tomorrow, hopefully! :)

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><p>"You should come to the Burrow with us this Christmas," Mrs. Weasley told Arianna halfway through their Butterbeers. She sloshed the beverage down her robes, amid laughter.<p>

The whole clan was there, and Arianna had been busy going through their names and the whole Weasley family tree in her head. Fred, James, and Louis, a silvery-blonde seventh-year who had a percentage of Veela blood inherited from his mother, were teasing Molly, also a seventh-year, about her new boyfriend. Roxanne, who was three years younger than her brother, chattered away cheerfully to her mother, while Lucy, Hugo, and Lily, all third-years, listened to Rose's very accurate imitation of Professor Binns.

Albus had turned from rolling his eyes at his cousin's droning and attempts at impersonating a ghost, and flashed Arianna a lopsided grin.

"Family reunions… ugh." Seeing Arianna's raised eyebrows, Albus waved his hand vaguely, "I mean, you miss them and all, but that's what winter and summer breaks are for. You leave all the cousins madness for then. But," and here he looked at his kin fondly, "you can always be reassured of some crazy times with these people."

"Must be nice, all that craziness…" Arianna thought, aloud. She ignored Albus's glance, and stuck her tongue into her Butterbeer. He laughed.

"So, you tell anyone yet about how your Quidditch tryouts went?"

_Sluuuuurrrp_.

"I made the team," Arianna said, her voice blank. She wiped her Butterbeer moustache off on her sleeve, and finally turned to look directly into Albus's eyes, "What do you think happened?"

"I think James pulled you into something you hardly had any intention of doing, and being James he got you to do it," Albus said lightly, without hesitation, "The fact that you made it means Alyssa saw that you were good enough to be Keeper, especially for when Marco leaves next year. I haven't seen you play yet so I don't actually know how good you are, but I assume you're good enough that no one from the team's been joining in whispering behind your back."

That was the first time that day Arianna choked on the butterscotch-flavoured drink.

"Dear, how's the school year been for you so far?" Mrs. Weasley had turned her attention on Arianna, who gladly started small talk with the woman she later learned to have played Quidditch for the Puddlemere United. After retiring, Angelina Johnson worked part-time in her fiancé's joke shop at Diagon Alley (which explained why Roxanne had been so glad to see her mother there in Hogsmeade), but was also a correspondent for the Department of Magical Games and Sports to the Daily Prophet. Arianna explained what they were doing in class, emphasizing alongside Rose on just how big their workload was. Rose teased her younger cousins about how they would have "just _sooooooo _much to look forward to"; Louis flashed her a brilliant smile before listing in detail just what seventh year was like.

And then while everyone began sipping their Butterbeers simultaneously, Mrs. Weasley popped the question that made Arianna choke on her drink the second time that day.

Rose muttered a quick Cleansing Charm, giving Arianna a second to compose her expression, and turn a questioning, polite gaze upon Mrs. Weasley. The ex-Quidditch player was grinning.

"Aunt Angie, you ruined it! Now Hugo can't ask her to stay with us over Break!" Lily and Roxanne snorted, and Hugo shot a nasty look at Rose before saying hotly:

"Well not everyone's as chicken as you are, not asking your best friend to celebrate Christmas with you." Rose opened her mouth as if to retort, but something stopped her. Arianna hardly noticed, the words _best friend _resonating in her head. A grin spreading on her face, she looked from the pouting Rose to the unblinking Albus, skimmed her gaze past the arrogantly-smiling James, lingered on Hugo, who'd never even acknowledged they knew each other but apparently wanted her celebrating Christmas with his family, and looked back to Mrs. Weasley.

"I – I would love to, Mrs. Weasley!"

* * *

><p>"Invisibility Cloak? Thought he'd give you that when he told us he'd smuggle you out of the school."<p>

"He told you? You know about it?"

"Yeah, well it's a family heirloom thing, for the Potters. And he said to trust him and with James, well you kind of just go along with him, you know?"

"You trust him, yet you're always badmouthing him. Huh. You think Duelling Club is worth coming to?"

"One of the best parts of my year last year." Rose confirmed, before rolling her eyes at Arianna's dubious look, taking her by the elbow, and dragging her into the Great Hall.

Unlike during mealtimes, the Hall had been cleared of its four House tables this Friday after class; a carpet with the Hogwarts insignia in its centre covered the floor – Arianna supposed it was to soften any falls and other nasty accidents. A medley of fifth-year and older students from all four houses were gathered around a Professor, the Professor in charge of the Club, no doubt. This was the Duelling Club for the students who were otherwise too busy with exams and were more experienced than the younger students (they had one for themselves on Thursdays). James Potter and another sixth-year Prefect were assisting the running of the club ("trust me, it's not just because they're popular, they're actually good at what they do" Rose assured her).

The man at the centre of the crowd turned around, and Arianna realized he was not a teacher at the school. He had messy dark hair, wore Ministry robes, and most importantly, had Albus's eyes. Arianna's eyes traced the scar she knew Mr. Potter wore on his forehead, before turning consciously away. Albus had just appeared behind them, eye his father a little apprehensively.

"Didn't think he was going to come today, he mentioned having Ministry stuff to be done…" he muttered, "Come on." He led them away from the crowd towards the back of the room. Rose and Arianna shared glances, before making their way after Albus, Scorpius joining them shortly after.

When Professor Malfoy had arrived, Arianna noticed the slightly tense smile that passed between the two adults. Albus leant, relaxed, against the wall, the only indication of his displeasure shown through his slightly tense jaw. Mr. Potter cleared his throat and gave a small wave, returning the smiles from the excited students.

"Hi. I hope your lessons have been going well?"

(A chorus of "Oh they're going great, Mr. Potter" and "They have, Mr. Potter" piped up. Albus rolled his eyes, Scorpius looking at him sympathetically.)

"I know you're all eager to get started, so I'll try and cut this short. For those of you who have done this before, welcome back, and for those of you who haven't, welcome. I think the name of this club is fairly self-explanatory. Professor Malfoy (and here he didn't even look at the blonde teacher) and I have come to brainstorm some of the spells we thought you guys would enjoy practicing, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let us know. James and Blair here are our helpers this year.

For our first meeting, I thought it would be a good start to begin with a simple Stunning Spell. We'll start by casting it with the incantation, and maybe work our way into casting a non-verbal one. I realize you're all from different years and houses, so to allow you to spread your horizons a bit, I'd like you all to find someone not in your year, but still in your house." A few minutes of shuffling, eye-avoiding, and grumbling followed, where Rose waved furiously at James before pushing Arianna towards him, thus volunteering her friend to become his partner (all she got were eyebrows raising from Albus and Scorpius, and an annoyed look from Arianna). Then everyone stopped fidgeting, and someone called.

"Can you demonstrate a Stunning Spell Mr. Potter?" The Boy-Who-Lived grinned, before indicating the student body.

"Even better, why don't we have one of you demonstrate?"

Being James, he threw himself forward before anyone had raised their hands, effectively forcing Arianna to wipe the roll of her eyes from her face, and follow him into the centre of the Hall.

_I'm going to kill you_, her eyes read. James grinned unabashedly at her.

Someone snorted in the crowd (Arianna could've sworn it came from her cluster of friends), and she faced her partner. Mr. Potter had an amused expression on his clean-shaven face, and resigned to the walls along with everyone else. James's near-arrogant smirk was still there while the two duellers bowed politely, raised their wands, and cried –

"Stupefy!"

"_Stupefy!_"

The girl found herself skidding along the carpeted floor, the collar of her school robes tightening against her neck as a small smack sounded amongst the laughing student body. Arianna sat up, a few feet from where she had been standing. The spell had missed her when she'd thrown herself instinctively onto her back.

On the other side of the room, James clambered shakily onto his feet; apparently still conscious, but somehow knocked against the stone wall. People laughed as he dusted off his robes, looking exaggeratedly for signs of dust, and he looked up at Arianna, that same grin still there, after all that time. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, you missed me while acrobatically falling down, but that thrust thing you did with your wand had me soaring through the air," he told her, no sign of embarrassment anywhere, "Closest thing to flying on a broom I've ever experienced."

"Sorry," Arianna grinned, as everyone else in the Great Hall took their places, facing their partners, "Didn't know I could throw human beings into the air with sheer willpower."

That Friday afternoon, Arianna accepted two things that she could no longer deny; one, she really, really liked the attention being good at something brought her, and two, she'd never felt like kissing anyone as much as she wanted to throughout those two hours.


	9. Chapter 9

"Rose, I don't _like _him!"

"Well during Duelling –"

"Like I had a choice! _You _pushed me!"

"You two having a fight?"

"_Shut up Scorpius._"

The pale haired boy put his hands up, as if defending himself from the nasty looks he was getting from Arianna and Rose. The girls turned back to each other, resuming their heated discussion. Scorpius had to jog to keep up with their pace.

"Why are you so angry? I merely pointed out you –"

"Why are you so deaf? Why can't you just drop it?"

"I would've dropped it if you hadn't turned on me like I'd insulted your pride or something! I don't see why you're being such a bit –"

"I have my reasons for being who I am!"

"It's just a crush –"

"Arianna has a crush?"

"_SHUT UP SCORP_."

"Okay, sorry, sorry…"

Albus joined the threesome; he didn't need Scorpius's warning look to know better than to intrude.

"Anyways, Albus was the one who first saw –"

"Whoa, what'd I do?"

"Did he? What'd he say?"

"Oh, just 'there goes another one of us going down the James path'."

"Did he now?" Albus cleared his throat uncomfortably. Arianna stopped abruptly, causing her friends to nearly crash into her.

"Look," she said, her voice calm, "I don't have crushes on people. Or – or I do, but it's never anything serious. I like them, for materialistic purposes, like you were complaining about, and then I get tired of them. Sick of them." She scanned the confused, worried looks on her friends' faces and felt like puking. Taking a deep breath, Arianna looked Rose in the eye, and said, as sincerely as possible, "Sorry", before taking off into the greenhouse. Rose stared after her, bewildered. Albus tapped his cousin on the shoulder, and they made their way into the classroom. Arianna had sidled up between two Slytherins she'd never even talked to before.

"Albus, what the hell –"

"Apparently she doesn't like me making my observations. Not everyone has such a perfect love life like you do."

Rose went red, Scorpius gagged.

"What?"

But Professor Longbottom appeared in front a miniature tree then, and the trio hurried to find a place to stand around the class table, leaving them no time to retort.

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><p>Arianna was miserable. Herbology, a class that she enjoyed thanks to Professor Longbottom's teaching, seemed to crawl on in the background as her own thoughts took over. She avoided looking at Rose, feeling a tight ball of guilt curling up in her stomach whenever she thought the redhead was looking in her direction. She hoped Albus had shut up, because for some reason, she felt dread at the idea of him making some accurate observations on her behaviour. She didn't even know Scorpius that well to feel comfortable being vulnerable in front of him.<p>

Would Rose understand if she tried to explain herself? Arianna wasn't even sure she knew what was going on inside of her own head. Well she knew she'd gotten so disgusted with herself in the past that she'd forced her feelings away; she'd hated how she liked so many guys, used them for her own pleasure, then got sick of them one by one. She had decided she would stop her feelings from developing by cutting them off at the moment she could feel that first rapid beating of her heart.

Arianna knew she would probably have a crush on James Potter, that much wasn't that big of a surprise to her. What she hadn't anticipated was how she still wasn't over him; on the contrary, it almost felt like she liked him a tiny bit more every day. She'd never felt like this. It scared her.

It disgusted her how much time she was dedicating thinking about crushes.

At the very least, she owed an apology to her best friend.

It took her until dinner before Arianna got enough courage to make her way to the group of redheads at the Gryffindor table. She'd avoided everyone familiar for the whole day, skipping lunch to bury herself in the library. The only good thing that happened throughout the day was how she'd finally talked to the other people in her classes, and found that the pretension she had to pull finding the right words to say (which she usually detested) was a welcome distraction. It almost felt like no one treated her, to her face at least, as the "new girl who got everything she wanted" anymore, but more like the girl who'd pawned James in the first Duelling Club.

Arianna put her hands on the table, directly across from Rose. The redhead glanced up, Arianna opened her mouth, and before she could spill out the speech she'd been rehearsing Rose put up her hand.

"Be my partner in Defence Against the Dark Arts for the rest of the year?" Arianna gaped.

"Er –"

"Great. Try some of this soup, no idea what the heck they put in this, but it's totally awesome."

Arianna smiled shyly, catching Albus's eye, who rolled his eyes at her.

"Just so you know, Scorpius is acting like a fangirl towards you and James, and I kept my ungodly mouth shut." He whispered to her, making room for Arianna as she sat down beside him.

"I never told you to shut up…" Albus grinned slyly and Arianna ducked her head.

Of course Albus Potter could pretty much read her mind and see right through her.

* * *

><p>"Sorry about how I acted today."<p>

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to."

"I'm not."

"Oh. That's okay then."

"Goodnight Rose."

"'Night Ari."

* * *

><p>The month of October passed by rather uneventfully, other than the mini-rivalry that had begun between Arianna and Rose. They and their friends never talked about it out loud, but it went unsaid that they were both helping, and competing against, each other with their classes.<p>

"Aren't you two getting tired of this already?" Albus sighed when, after getting marks back on a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, Ari and Rose were staring daggers at each other. This was one of the few assignments they hadn't helped each other on, and they both ended up getting an E on it.

"You said you were busy –"

"I was, I had Quidditch –"

"So did I –"

Scorpius was trying not to laugh. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Well this is way better than that one, or two, or half dozen times when one of you did better on something you'd helped each other on…"

"Shut up Albus." Rose snapped, playfully.

"Yeah Al. What'd you get?" Apparently Albus was against the nicknames Alby, Ally, Bus, and Dumbledore, so Arianna had to settle with "Al" ("Would you like to be called, say, Arrrrr? How 'bout Dumbledore's sister? Exactly.").

"Scorpius got an A." Albus said vaguely. Rose gasped mockingly.

"Shut up," the Slytherin told her, frowning, "Dad probably got pissed that I seemed to have forgotten the numerous Unforgivable Curses lectures he'd given me throughout the summer, and just to spite me, gave me the lowest mark I've gotten all year…"

"You poor thing," Rose said dismissively, "Alby-kins, what'd you get?"

"He got an O." Scorpius said, grinning at his best friend's exasperated look.

"You got a _what_?"

"Oooh look, Nargles! Hi James!" James, followed by his queue of sixth-year buddies, threw his younger brother a worried look as they came out of a Transfiguration classroom. Albus hurried up to them, striking up a conversation with one of his brother's cronies.

"You've been hanging out too much with Aunt Luna, Albus…" James muttered jokingly. Arianna turned to Rose, her eyebrows raised.

"Nargles? And just how many aunts do you guys have?" Scorpius chortled and Rose half-smiled.

"Family friend. Lily's middle name is Luna, named after Mrs. Luna Lovegood-Scamander."

Another war-hero namesake for Harry Potter's kin. Arianna knew that Albus Severus had been named after two Hogwarts headmasters, and James Sirius was named after his paternal deceased grandfather, and Harry's godfather. Rose explained that Victoire Weasley, Louis's older sister, had been named "Victory" for being born on the anniversary of the day the Second Wizarding War had been won, Fred Weasley was named after his deceased uncle, and Molly Weasley was named after her paternal grandmother. Sometimes Ari wished she was named after Albus Dumbledore's younger sister, despite having one too many n's in her name.

It wasn't the first time she wondered what went through her biological parents' minds when they'd given her her name.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Whoot! First double digit chapter! I never get this far in my writing, so this is kinda big for me :P Hope you guys don't mind the slightly angsty tone of this chapter. Feel free to review :)

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><p>While eating breakfast on Halloween morning, the Hall half decorated with bats, pumpkins and floating jack-o-lanterns, Arianna got the shortest letter yet from her Mom.<p>

_ Where are you?_

She wasn't even sure if it was from the same person who'd been sending her letters every day now. The majority of them were around the exact same as the first one she'd gotten, with words along the lines of "Oh I miss you" and "_They _tell me I can't be with you…", all written in French. This was the first one she'd gotten that Rose could understand, that wasn't addressed to "_Ma fille_", that didn't make her feel a hollow pang in her chest – this was the first letter Arianna got that made her go into a blind rage.

"Ari?" Albus muttered quietly to her as Rose kept voicing aloud the confusion she was experiencing at the unrevealing note. Arianna shook her head, seeing spots of red in front of her.

"Excuse me," she told her friends as she got up from the Gryffindor table. Somewhere down along the table, Louis Weasley's voice called to her, "Ah Ari! Happy Halloween!" She smiled blindly in his direction as several voices piped up words she did not take in – it didn't even occur to her to wonder why the heck they even bothered to talk to her.

"Hey Ari –" Scorpius's voice was right in front of her; she plastered the grin on her face, and walked as fast as she could out of the Great Hall, out of Hogwarts, out to the spot she went to the first time she'd gotten her letter. Ari stood facing the lake, assured that she was out of ear-shot distance from the castle, and let out a breath she'd been unconsciously holding in that made her feel dizzy.

And then she screamed.

It only occurred to Ari on her third head-splitting scream that she could've cast a few charms around her so no one would be able to hear her.

Oh well.

" –"

"Ouch. Doesn't that make you go deaf, hearing yourself scream like that?"

Arianna whipped around, for a second her heart pounding wildly, thinking it was –

"Oh, it's you," she said tiredly, as Albus Potter grinned a bit awkwardly at her.

"Ouch again."

"Thought you were James, you sounded like him for a second there," Arianna said, sick of lying for once.

"Fair enough." Albus said easily, sitting down. Ari turned away, towards the school.

"I'm going back."

"Ari wait! I'm not going to ask. Well maybe this one thing. What are you going to do on a day we don't have classes if you're going to avoid every living being you encounter?"

"You think you're so clever Potter."

"I'm not that different from James you know." Albus hurried to walk beside her.

"Yes you are. You're freakishly observant, you're quiet in front of most people, you have a lot of friends, or just people who like you because they trust and respect you –"

"And that's different from James how?"

" – and you think you can just help everyone you meet and save the world just like that!"

"I-I never meant it like that –"

"Ha! Well no one ever means it! Just-just screw off Al!" And she stormed off, mentally strangling herself.

* * *

><p>"<em>You had no right to talk to Al like that.<em>" Rose hissed as she came into the dormitory, startling the other four girls who'd been giggling over a piece of parchment. Ari lay in her bed, eyes staring unseeingly up towards the ceiling.

"We'll just get out of here…" Kathy, their ringleader, said in her I'm-so-cool attitude voice. Rose spared her no glance as they went out. She turned back to her unmoving friend.

"Aria –"

"Go away Rose." The girl muttered.

"NO! Albus was trying to help you, we – he – we're always trying to help, to be there! But you keep blowing us off!"

"I never asked for any help now, did I?" Arianna retorted, her voice rising a tiny bit.

"Arianna Li, you are a self-serving, selfish _bitch_, did you know that?"

Arianna turned to Rose, her face betraying no emotions, not anger, nor sadness, not even the pretence of trying to hide her feelings.

"Yeah."

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><p>"Albus, I hate myself." Rose muttered, a hint of a whine in her voice.<p>

"Rose…"

"She just looked straight at me, and her face was like – poof! Nothing! She didn't even look like she was –"

"Feeling anything, if that's even possible. Yeah. You told us."

Scorpius, for the umpteenth time, fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I'm still not sure –"

"Ari would want you here. That she'd want you to know about her private affairs." Albus finished for his friend, tiredly, "Well she's so good at hiding things the fact that you know about her stuff means she probably doesn't mind you knowing right?"

"Al, what was going through her head?" Rose's cousin looked up at her sharply.

"How should I know? And –" he interrupted the other two before they could speak, "We know Ari hates when I try to decipher everything that goes on around me –"

"It is a bit creepy, it's like you're reading our minds." Scorpius said, faltering a bit at his friend's severe look.

"And she hates me so I should just keep my ungodly mouth shut."

Rose rolled her eyes, the anguished look on her face vanishing for once.

"Aww are we going to be sad over that again?" Albus went pink.

"Shut up."

"But seriously, she doesn't hate you. She told me so herself. She just finds you –"

"If she wanted me to know she'd tell me herself." Albus said firmly, ignoring his friends' shared there-goes-Al-and-his-high-moral-standards looks.

"Back to Ari though," Rose said seriously, "I've sort of accepted I might never know her full life story, let alone still be her friend tomorrow, but I wanna at least know what set her off this morning." She looked imploringly at Albus, "Please?"

"Guys, it's not right… Fine. But it's just a theory you know. I don't actually know everything that goes around me, I just guess."

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><p><em>I love trying to guess everything, about everyone, that goes around me. <em>

* * *

><p><em> I know I've never met my biological parents before, and I know nothing about them. Just that they're dead and that I shouldn't mention them in front of my adoptive parents because a) they don't know anything about them (neither does the place they adopted me from) and b) it puts my dad in a bad mood.<em>

_ But I sometimes imagine. I sometimes wonder. I picture in my head what they would've looked like; the waist length almost-black hair my mom would wear in a braid, my dad's chestnut eyes, his long slender fingers, my mom's wrinkles from smiling so much. I make up stories in my head about how they met, where they met, how old they were when they fell in love, what schools they went to, how old they were, and how, they died. Sometimes I felt an aching in my chest if I imagined too much, but that was it._

_ They were just fantasies. _

_ On my ninth birthday, after a fight I had with my parents over a test mark I'd just gotten back, I went up to my room, fuming. I couldn't help thinking that if it were my biological parents, my _real_ parents, they would love me enough not to ruin my birthday like that. _Where are you? _I thought miserably. _

_ When my mom, my unreal mom, came up to coax me into going down to eat some cake, she saw me crying. She mistook my tears for being about our fight. _

_ After that night, I could never get the notion out of my head that my parents, the two people who were supposed to love and want the best for and had given life to me, had abandoned me. _

* * *

><p><em> Where are you?<em>


	11. Chapter 11

The Halloween feast was, as if it could be anything but, brilliant. Plates among plates were laden with the most mouth-watering foods imaginable, with the traditional turkeys, puddings, tarts, pies – hundreds in quantity. The goblets were never empty of heavy-flowing pumpkin juice, the dishes wiping themselves clear from crumbs before producing even more food. Up above the students' heads, the enchanted ceiling showcased the fiery colours of the sun setting in the sky outside.

Ari slipped into the Great Hall as unnoticeably as she could, but in vain. She took two steps towards the Gryffindor table before half the student body erupted in calls. She flinched, looking toward the Slytherin table where it seemed every fifth-year was occupying the overcrowded table. A bunch of people she'd had classes with for the past two months were calling, beckoning at her, to join them. Ari grinned shyly at the sudden turning of heads from the other years before hurrying to slip between Albus and Rose. Scorpius, sitting across from Rose, gave her a weak grin, the slight uncertainty in his eyes a reminder of their falling out earlier that day. Ari returned the gesture, making sure not to appear like anything but friendly.

"Ari! Help me out with Charms homework?" Tania, a Ravenclaw, called out from further down the table. Ari smothered her surprise – these people, peers that she never really conversed with other than about the most trivial things, were treating her like some old friend. Whatever. She'd rack her brains over thinking about it later, for now she'd just enjoy it and go along with the circumstances.

"Not tonight! Gonna be too busy eating and attempting to beat Rose in chess." Laughter and amused glances – Rose's father had been quite the ingenuous chess player and she'd inherited her non-leasing streak since first year from him.

"Say Rose," Ari said quietly, so that no one else could hear among the loud festive chatter in the Hall, except for maybe Al, "I'm planning on going to visit my old school tomorrow, since it's a Hogsmeade weekend. Can you come with me?"

Rose Weasley had never been good at picking up at subtlety, unlike her guarded friend, but it seemed she realized the implication behind her friend's words.

"Can – can I come? Yeah, I'd love – sure." And then because she couldn't resist making sure that she'd taken Ari's words the way the dark-haired girl had intended for them, she blurted, "So we're alright then?"

"I'm your Defence Against the Dark Arts partner, I stop you from getting burned by your own wand. Try some of this soup, no idea what the heck they put in this, but it's totally awesome." Rose smiled weakly, Albus snorted. Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"It's their make-up soup." Albus explained to the Slytherin, "Last time they fought they fed each other green soup to make each other feel better about not being there for one another. You can't keep these two apart for an hour before they start missing the other."

"Shut up Al." Ari and Rose chimed in unison, before the former piled her plate with everything in sight.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough; having her existence acknowledged by her peers, and knowing that she hadn't lost her friends, gave Ari a light, floating feeling in her chest.

More than halfway through the feast, James and his gang of sixth-years chased away some first-year Slytherins and sat themselves at the heavily occupied table. Ari directed a product she'd bought at Mr. Weasley's joke shop, with her wand hidden in the folds of her robes, into James's drink, watched him take a sip… and burst out into rainbow coloured feathers.

The whole Slytherin table exploded with laughter, the rest of the student body and teachers craning their necks to see what the disturbance was. Somebody applauded, James's buddies roared with laughter, bent over and tears in their eyes. Five minutes later, the whole Hall's attention still fixed on the brightly puffed-up boy in their ranks, James lost his feathers, fell off his seat, and joined in the merriment. The sixth-year looked around at the faces, but everyone shook their heads, unable to take credit. Finally he caught Ari's eye, who lifted her goblet up as if to say "Cheers!" and gulped down her drink. James's jaw dropped.

"I'll get you back for this!" He roared cheerfully at her, as a whole new wave of noise swept the Hall. Ari couldn't staunch the wide grin spreading on her face as she looked up at the blood red sky, pretending to be entranced by the fading daylight.

"The way to a man's heart. Not with food, nor love." Albus said sagely.

"Nor se –" Rose piped in but Scorpius reached over and clamped her mouth shut with his hand, giving her an appalled look.

"The way to a man's heart. Feed him Feathered Fluids." Albus preached.

"Take note, Rosie."

"Ari!"

* * *

><p>Saturday morning, Rose met up with her friend outside of Professor Longbottom's office inside one of the greenhouses. The Head of Gryffindor followed Ari out, pulling on a travelling cloak.<p>

"You clear to – oh hey Professor. You coming with us?" The Herbology teacher nodded, smiling warmly at his school friends' daughter.

"We'll have to get out of Hogwarts grounds before I can Apparate us. Can you two wait for me near the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade? That should be far enough… I have to go confirm something with the Headmistress."

"Where'd you go for breakfast?" Rose asked her friend as they took off without Professor Longbottom, trying to keep the nosiness out of her voice.

"Wasn't hungry." Ari said, a trace of her blank tone creeping into her voice. Rose let it go.

"So where are we going exactly? Where's your old school?"

"My elementary school. It's in Canada."

"What?"

"Oh come on," Ari said, a half grin on her face as she turned to look at the redhead, "You didn't actually think I'm British did you? The way I speak, I could pretty much be either an American or Canadian." Rose gaped.

"Yeah, no, I mean I knew _that_. But what are we – just going to Apparate to the other side of the world?"

"Professor Longbottom got clearance from the Ministry. He's probably going to inform Professor McGonagall right now."

"What, and they just, _let you_ go to Canada?"

"Got a reply letter in less than a quarter of an hour."

Rose shook her head, exasperated. At least she knew, or heard of from her parents, that Neville Longbottom was an accomplished wizard. Let's see how he did Apparating three people across the distance of an ocean.

* * *

><p>Arianna Li laced her fingers around the chained links in the fence surrounding her first school. An old red building, on a street perpendicular to two Muggle hospitals, had faded white letters on top of its wall, reading: Roed Street Public School. There were two playgrounds; Rose had been to some herself when she'd been younger, so she recognized the red slides, the monkey bars designed for younger kids, a sand pit… and there was even a fake grass field on the other side of the school. It was a Saturday, so not a living soul stirred by the school except for the wizard and witches.<p>

A cool autumn breeze picked up, ruffling the candy wrappers littering the school grounds. Rose remembered her own past Halloweens, where her parents, trying to include her into the Muggle world as well as the wizarding one, had taken her and Hugo trick-or-treating. She smiled, imagining what it must've been like for the Muggle children from the day before, dressed up and sharing all sorts of sweets. She turned her head to Ari, and her smile faltered.

Ari's face had that blank, numb expression again, the one that made it seem like the whole world could just die and she wouldn't care. Roes felt a chill creep up between her shoulder blades. She would rather Ari be incomprehensibly angry, a bitch, or even crying than act so… empty.

Another chill breeze picked up, blowing the still girl's hair into her face, wrinkling the Muggle jacket she had on. Rose swallowed, watching as Ari moved the hair out of her eyes and blinked. Her friend's eyes swept across the playground again, up at the top of the building, past windows of classrooms inside. Years of memories seemed to flash behind those brown eyes, and a small melancholy smile tugged at the corner of her lips – or maybe it was all just Rose's fanciful imagination. She would never find out.

It felt like hours, but a few minutes later, Ari turned her back on her childhood and looked at the two people that were part of the world she now belonged to.

"Let's go home." she said quietly.

Dead, fall-coloured leaves were whipped up into the chill air by a small gust of wind as three people held hands and vanished out of sight.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I sort of got stuck and instead of being a good writer and writing through it, I let it go for a few days D: to make up for it, I guess I wrote an extra few hundred words? :P

I'm gonna post this before I come up with an excuse that makes me never upload this, which means I haven't proofread yet. Sorry for any glaringly annoying mistakes in advance, I'll get to those asap.

Anyway, reviews would be appreciated, they're what make me feel amazing, really. Great for the self-esteem, and self-esteem helps me feel confident enough to write. Any kind of review would be great really, constructive criticism, letting me know whether you like this story or not, or the way I write. Thanks to everyone who's kept up with the story so far, you guys are amazing and make me want to make my dreams of writing come true :)

* * *

><p>November came and went, thirty days breezing by, all filled to the brim with schoolwork, Quidditch, and just the tiniest bit of drama. James was going out with Monica, Ari's roommate, who was friends with some of the fakest girls in the school.<p>

"James only said yes because she'd asked him out in front of everyone at Uncle George's joke shop." Albus filled Rose and Ari in on what happened in Hogsmeade.

"You're only saying that because I'm your friend," Ari said, rolling her eyes. She knew very well Albus was not the type of person to put people down, and the fact that he was letting go of his "high moral standards" was perhaps a bit more touching than the green-eyed boy would admit to, "And I think James actually likes her, or enjoys her company."

"At least Monica's okay," Rose muttered as the trio turned to look down the Gryffindor breakfast table, where the new couple was sitting beside each other, a nervous look on the fifth-year's face, "Can you imagine if he was dating Kathy, or Petra? I know Pet's our Beater, but still, the way she goes along with Kathy, just… ugh. And Enya. She's had a crush on James since forever, but of course her friends wouldn't stop to consider her feelings before serving themselves."

Kathy Jone, Petra Snow, and their followers, Monica Kingston and Enya Peters, in the Muggle world, would be known as the preppy school bitches. Ari had been in the same dormitory as them for the past two months, and they'd hardly exchanged words. Not that she minded of course, but sometimes she wondered if the only reason Rose had first befriended her was to finally have a breath of fresh air from the people she couldn't stand.

Ari threw a sympathetic look at the miserable looking Enya sitting a few spaces beside the couple. The brunette was the weak link in the group, the one the other three only kept to carry out their instructions. All of Ari's friends seemed to pity her, but none of them bothered to be nice to her, and Ari vowed to find out the reason why by herself.

"Why didn't you ask to change dorms or something? How'd you survive four years with those four?" Scorpius asked Rose, a bit incredulously as Kathy passed them, threw up her arms, and squealed at the sight of Monica and James. Ari let out a laugh in her throat that sounded like sheep bleating, and Kathy threw her a dirty look.

"Well they weren't that bad in our first two years. I usually hung out with you guys, but I'd talk with them, we'd help each other with assignments. Couldn't stand Kathy in the beginning of course, but Petra kept her respectful distance, and Monica was alright. Enya just tagged along, agreed with everything I said, always wondered when that bravery and boldness of hers would magically pop out someday."

"Hey, who knows. The Sorting Hat can't be _wrong_." Ari muttered, "I mean I've kept my head down my whole life, stood up for no one, not even myself, and he told me I have courage."

"Well maybe you haven't looked at yourself closely enough. It'd amaze you what others see about you that you don't." Ari gaped a little at Albus, who rose his eyebrows a little defensively. Rose took a look at the pair, rolled her eyes, and pointed with her fork at Enya's back.

"The others I can handle, in a way, because we all know how fake and annoying they are and we can badmouth them together and everything. But Enya… didn't Al say she reminded him a bit of our parents' descriptions of Peter Pettigrew?"

"Who?"

"Gaag –"

"You mean the guy who betrayed your grandparents – oh. Crap. Right."

Awkward silence.

Ari caught Albus's eye, and was about to ask him how Enya could be expected to betray loved ones to their would-be murderers when the green eyes flickered upwards, above her head.

"Hey guys, take a walk with me?" James voice asked, with a hint of desperation.

"Sorry Jamie, we've got Defence this morning and Professor Malfoy hinted we'd be doing curses. Not gonna miss that for a stroll in the school, not even for my dear beloved cousin." Rose said sweetly, draining the last of her pumpkin juice and getting up. Ari turned and smiled innocently at James, who looked at the four of them with a long-suffering look.

"Sorry mate," Scorpius said, clapping the sixth-year on the shoulder, "As much as I'm interested in your love life woes, I've got a session of Daddy-avoiding awkwardness that I wouldn't miss for the world."

"There's always Fred." Albus smiled sweetly, and James gaped at the foursome as they skipped in unison out of the Hall.

* * *

><p>Monica going out with James was one of the best things that could have happened to Ari. Now that she was certain she was not jealous of her roommate, she was hopeful that once James had a girlfriend, she would finally get over him. Her friends regarded her sceptically when she told them Monica and James were her dream come true, but was nonetheless too amused to tell them they didn't have to stand up for her and tease James at every passing chance.<p>

Once she could get James out of her mind, she would be free to invest her energy and concentration into preparing for the upcoming Quidditch game against Hufflepuff before the winter holidays. Granted, she wouldn't be playing, but that was no excuse for her not to improve and feel good about something she was becoming pretty good at. The previous Quidditch practice, Marco Stephenson had regarded her with something like pride, announcing that he would no longer leave Gryffindor with regrets or worries, now that the future Keeper was able to manoeuvre a broom and block oncoming Quaffles. HerThree months into her training and Ari found that when she looked down, fifty feet from the ground, her stomach no longer flipped like a pancake.

She could also throw herself fully into the demand of her lessons, the skyscrapers of papers to be written, the trunk load of books to be devoured, the technical stuff (Professor McGonagall was really having a go at them with their Animagus unit), the instructions to be memorized – Ari was lucky beyond words to have friends like Rose, Albus, and Scorpius, who were some of the smartest people in the year. With the routinely cycle her Hogwarts life had become, there really was no time to have to think about stuff that happened years ago, or about the mysterious letters (she'd stopped getting them too, thank God), and she really, really didn't mind.

But even after a month of James and Monica being a couple, Ari couldn't freaking accomplish her utmost desire.

"How in Merlin's name are they still together? A month, in teenager terms –"

"Thank you Scorp, but let's not get pissed at them anymore alright? I don't hate them, in fact them being together helped me get over him –"

Albus snorted.

"Shut it Al."

But it seemed the more Ari became sympathetic towards Monica for all the whispering she kept getting behind her back, the more her roommate regarded her with disgust. Just that morning, Ari's Defence Against the Dark Arts paper had scattered around her room, and Kathy, of course, had deliberately treaded over them. Petra turned a blind eye, Enya polished her wand nervously, and Monica, who would've usually pretended not to see, or might even had helped pick the parchment up, laughed and threw Ari a degrading look.

"What's her problem? What'd I ever do to her?" Ari muttered half-annoyed, half-curious, to Rose, who seemed to be in pain over controlling herself not to hex the hell out of the smirking Kathy.

"Must be their version of a warning for you to not get so friendly with James. Merlin, I'd rather have my best friend date my cousin than that _s _–"

"What? When? During Duelling? But…" Rose threw Ari an exasperated look.

"You naïve young grasshopper…"

During Duelling Club, almost as an unspoken arrangement, Ari and James had become assigned partners. James admitted uneasily that it was nice hanging out with… _different _people once in a while. Ari had to force herself not to Stun herself when her heart started hammering away.

Ari would never admit it, but the friendship she'd developed with James, the one that was supposed to convince her that they were better off as friends, was something that usually made her day. She couldn't help share his excitement over the upcoming Quidditch match, the next Hogsmeade weekend, the next Duelling Club meet where they'd finally start working on their Patronuses.

"So, the Patronus Charm! Pity Po – Mr. Potter couldn't be here today, this is one of the spells he… specializes in." Some days, Professor Malfoy organized the Club by himself, once in a while Harry Potter came in from giving lectures in Defence Against the Dark Arts and helped run the club. Other Professors who had made appearances included Professors Longbottom, McGonagall, Firenze, and once, while they were going through spells that best held off dragons, Hagrid.

James turned to Ari, a silly excited grin plastered over his face. The Hall was filled with buzzing murmurs. For the first time, no one wanted a demonstration, no one cared to ask what Professor Malfoy's Patronus was. The blonde teacher took in the animated expressions around him, and grinned.

"Well we've been going through the instructions and background enough, let's get a start on this. Happy, joyous thoughts, remember. Now go!"

"Well, go on then." James indicated Ari's lowered wand, amongst the rise of chatter around them. Everywhere in the hall, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, silvery wisps danced on the tips of wands. Ari saw in the corner of her eye an animal materialize from Albus's wand; her friends had explained that in their family, it had become a tradition for them to form a Patronus early on. Ari looked into James's eyes.

"What, you're not going?" The brown-haired boy smirked.

"I, my dear, can already produce a fully functioning Patronus. I'm supposed to help out with the Club, remember? Anyway, you know everything about me, let's make it even hm? Show me your Patronus… and show me your soul! Mwahahaha –"

"Silencio." Ari muttered, and James shut up.

She ignored his overly exaggerated hurtful pleas as she closed her eyes, wishing she could silencio the world as well. Happy memories, happy memories… no point remembering anything from the Muggle world. Well there was always Callum, but just like every happy memory she had with her family, there would always be a pang of anger, guilt, or panic that immediately followed.

Ari turned her thoughts to Hogwarts, remembering the friends she'd made, ones that she now took for granted, the lessons she'd looked forward to. Quidditch, magic, feasts. The teachers, the ghosts, even Peeves. They'd all somehow interweaved together to create a web of familiarity. She could even say they made her feel safe, as if the good outweighed the bad, and that they'd become her home.

Ari raised her wand, concentrating on that warm feeling in the pit of her stomach, holding onto it –

"Expecto –"

But then she remembered that no good thing lasts, that everything slips away in the end. She grasped desperately for that thread of peace she'd conjured, but it was going, going…

One day she'd have to leave, leave the familiarity. One day her denial would be shattered, she'd remember the feeling of knowing she'd never see her mom, that her dad hated her, that she'd abandoned her brother. She'd remember the night terrors, the thoughts, the hopelessness.

"…Patronum," Ari whispered. She had her very own personal Dementor to suck away at her merry thoughts.

She opened her eyes, staring unblinkingly at her still wand. No wisps of silvery light.

James, who'd finally mimed and convinced Fred to undo the spell Ari had cast on him, cleared his throat.

"Alright, remind me to never lose my voice and shut up again. Unnatural, not talking, that is. Anyway, back to your Patronus. Come on, you can do it. Just remember and keep it in mind, blah blah blah. Once you get it it's the most amazing feeling in the world. You know, my first time –"

"Scorpius there looks like he needs some help," Ari said quietly, "Maybe if I can guide him through his Patronus I'll get a hang on mine." She turned away from James, and by the end of the period, she'd managed to talk Scorpius through on getting a web of dewy-looking silvery drops materialize in front of him.

The next day, before Quidditch practice, James stalked over to where Ari and Rose were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, heads buried in their Charms textbooks.

"Come on," he told Ari as he almost dragged her out of the room, "Patronus Charm. I'm making you get it today, whether you like it or not."

She couldn't very well tell him she knew she'd never be able to make one.


	13. Chapter 13

"Ex-pec-to Pa-tro-num. Expecto Patronum. Now repeat after me."

"Shut up James," Ari ground out through gritted teeth, "I know how to _pronounce_ it."

"Well say it with some gusto then! Some enthusiasm, some vigour! And stop gripping your wand liking you're hanging off a broomstick in midair, stop looking at me like you hate me, and for Merlin's sake, _stop not smiling_."

Arianna threw him a furious look, raised her wand with both hands, and tried not to scream –

"EXPECTO –"

"Merlin's beard, Ari, happy thoughts, not murderous ones!"

"What do you want me to do?" Arianna threw up her arms, her wand flying off to land upright in the grass several dozens of feet away, "Oh for f –"

"Accio wand!" James muttered, catching the flying wand and handing it back to Ari.

"Oh alright, I admit today's not the best day for me to bully you into casting a Patronus. I thought you were just getting annoyed of me yesterday and was just looking for an excuse to get rid of me… Sorry." Ari stared at him speechlessly, and James's eyebrows furrowed in worry, "What?"

"You – you think it was you?" Ari laughed disbelievingly, "For a guy who's all about letting things slide as a joke, you sure worry a lot about what others think about you." James sat down, and Ari hesitatingly followed suit. She'd never been comfortable hanging out with the people she liked, usually preferring to avoid them. With James she felt it was easy to act cool and sarcastic around him, but just because she was a good actress didn't mean she felt any less clumsy on the inside.

"So it wasn't?"

Ari didn't answer. She looked over to the Quidditch pitch; they were sitting on the crest of a small hill that sloped down to the stands and the field. In about a quarter of an hour's time, the Gryffindor team would begin their practice. In the meantime, Ari had to make sure she wouldn't let on any of her feelings to her companion, and she must not, under any circumstances, make a bloody fool of herself.

"You know, Al mentioned not only do you never talk about yourself, the things that matter at least, but you withdraw when someone wants to get to know you better."

"Of course he did."

"No that's not what I meant – I mean, he mentioned there was much more to you than just being witty and putting up with my antics –"

"Your _antics_? What are you, now, seeing the antics of your ways and relieving yourself of them?"

"Never," James snorted, "No bloody way."

"Your wife's gonna have to be pretty patient." Ari surmised amusedly, "Imagine having to put up with you everyday." She glanced at James, who was rolling his eyes.

"The whole school puts up with me everyday. I'm an open minded guy, but seriously, being in a polygamous marriage with over a thousand people? Don't think I can handle that."

"Pfft…"

"And he mentioned that you'd probably change the subject." James was staring determinedly ahead.

"Did he mention that I disassociate myself with nosy people?"

"You're best friends with Rose Weasley. I don't see you "disassociating" yourself with her anytime soon."

"Maybe one of the reasons I enjoy having you as a friend is because you're so different from Al personality-wise." James raised an eyebrow.

"We're not as different as we pretend to be."

Ari threw her head back onto the grass. A single wispy cloud drifted lazily across the baby blue sky, taking on the shape of a slightly mutated bulldog. Today was one of the warmer days they'd had since fall was nearing its end, but still a chill-inducing breeze swept across the Hogwarts grounds, sending Ari's hair flying all over her face.

They sat, and lay, in silence, the first moment they'd spent together where James wasn't pulling a prank, cracking a joke, forming a mockery. It slowly dawned on Ari that, even though she liked James for more than physical reasons, all she knew about him was his jokester side. Al had told her before he and his brother weren't that different, and she'd interpreted it to mean that Al also had a carefree, hilarious side. What if it went both ways? What if James also shared traits with Al, what if he was just as observant, just as accepting?

Voices were drifting from the castle's direction, and in a few moments a dozen players clad in red and gold robes would start pooling towards the Quidditch field. Ari took an audible breath in, and blew her hair out of her eyes. She got up, and headed towards the team.

"I don't think I'll be able to produce a Patronus."

* * *

><p>"Did you talk to James about me?" Ari made sure her voice was casual, in case it seemed like she was going to throw another temper tantrum on her friends. Albus looked at her just as casually, the two of them ignoring the apprehensive looks on Rose and Scorpius's faces.<p>

"Yup. Annoyed Monica a bit, don't think James noticed though."

"Put in a good word for me?"

"Put in an amazing word for you. Sang your praises like praising a Muggle god."

"Many thanks."

"Anything for you."

* * *

><p>It became a sort of routine, for Ari, Al, Rose, and Scorp to meet up at the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes à la Hogsmeade every few weekends before heading off with either family or other friends to the village's other shops. Professor Malfoy had pulled Ari aside the second Hogsmeade weekend, telling her there was no need for her to sneak out of the castle with Potter's Invisibility Cloak because she had permission. Ari'd thrown the person who'd introduced her to the wizarding world an amused look, not bothering to ask him why Harry Potter's greatest school nemesis knew of his possession of the cloak.<p>

The weekend before the first Quidditch match of the year (Ravenclaw was supposed to have a game a bit earlier on, but a surprising eighty percent of their team had gone down with a cold so the game had to be cancelled), Ari took the road to Hogsmeade by herself. Rose was staying behind for a bit to help Hugo with some Tranfiguration homework, Scorpius was picking out a present with a bunch of his Slytherin friends for a friend of his Ari had never bothered interacting with, and Al had promised to help Professor Longbottom clean up before heading over to the foursome's usual meeting place.

Not exactly keen on socializing with anyone else, Ari had courageously burst into James's dormitory once she'd made sure he was the only one in there (Monica had just left, which left her assured that the other boys had cleared out a while ago). She ignored his surprised exclaim, marched up to him and asked sweetly for his family heirloom.

Ari was relying on his shock for him not to refuse handing over his Invisibility Cloak.

She slipped through the open door of the joke shop, walking past the shelves upon shelves of merchandise, as awed as she'd been the first time she'd been there. A twelve-foot long parrot dove down, nearly clawing at her invisible self. Ari watched as a group of fourth-year Slytherin girls giggled and blew bubbles out of a Muggle-looking bubble blower; the spheres elongated, contracted, morphed into galloping horses, rearing centaurs, streaming arrows, and once, even a mermaid batting her eyelashes. Ari looked around, but there was no one in the shop she could be herself with. Towards the back of the shop, a limp curtain of moss hung over a slightly protruding part of the wall… curiosity piqued, Ari made her way there, avoiding contact with fellow students and shop surfaces alike.

It was a door. Ari almost laughed. Trust Mr. Weasley to have the back of his shop hidden by a sheet of squirming, breathing moss. Ari glanced guiltily around her, and after making sure everyone's attention was fixed on the things in the shop, she let herself in, half expecting the moss to scream of an intruder. It didn't though, and Ari let out a breath of relief.

The room she'd let herself in looked so ordinary she stared a bit dazedly at first. There was a Muggle-looking office desk, a turning chair, an electrical fire in an authentic looking hearth… a fan above, frozen. A couch against the opposite wall, a curtained window with still goldfish against its green backdrop.

There was nothing magical, maniacal about this room.

Ari hesitated a bit when she noticed the office papers lying scattered on the polished desk surface. It was the only thing out of place in this normal, tidy room. She tread silently over, resisting the urge to pick them up and straighten them.

They were just notes.

On a closer look, they were letters. Short, all with the same header. And before Ari could let the side of her that was telling her what a mistake she was making intruding into Mr. Weasley's private life, she read the first one.

_Dear Fred,_

_I hate you._

_Love,_

_George_

Ari blinked, wondering what Fred had done to make his father so angry at him, before remembering that George Weasley had named his son after his twin.

_Dear Fred, _

_I take what I said back. But really. I hate what you've done to me._

_Love,_

_George_

Arianna gulped. _I should stop…_ But her curiosity, again, was getting the best of her.

_Dear Fred,_

_I miss you._

_Love, _

_George_

_Dear Fred,_

_ I had a dream last night. It was about the time when Ginny was born, we were by Mom's side, and we said, at the exact same time: "We should name her Ginger pops!"_

_ It doesn't make sense that we'll never get to do that ever again. _

_Love,_

_George_

_Dear Fred,_

_ I'm sorry I haven't written in so long. I didn't know what to say. I know you'd understand what I'm thinking, I know you know perfectly well the state of our family. I bet you're somewhere up there looking down at our bawling, nightmares, and sleepless nights, and you're laughing at us, you're saying "Guys, guys, come on, smile! I'm still here! I'll always be here with you." It sucks being your twin because sometimes when I talk to myself, I can actually convince myself that it's you speaking. _

_Love,_

_George_

_Dear Fred,_

_ I had a nightmare today. I woke up, turned around, and told you, "Well, that was a bad one"._

_ I'd forgotten you weren't there._

_Love,_

_George_

_Dear Fred,_

_ I think I'm in love. I haven't been this un-miserable in an eternity. I want to spend the rest of my life, the life I was supposed to have with you by my side, with Angelina. _

_ I know you were fond of her. Please forgive me._

_Love,_

_George_

_Dear Fred,_

_ We, the old members of the DA, met up today. We sat in silence for hours. Harry made us cast our Patronuses. _

_ I can't do it anymore._

_Love,_

_George_

_Freddie!_

_ I hope my news will make you grin that silly grin of yours. I have a son! He's beautiful._

_ His name is Fred._

_Hope you're well, love,_

_George_

Before Ari could reach out to uncover the other letters strewn across the table, the curtain at the window drew back, and out stepped George Weasley.

* * *

><p>AN: I really wanted to include George's letters in one of the chapters. I'd written them earlier as a one-shot canon thing, but they seemed to me to fit here.

Second chapter of the day! It feels nice to just let the writing juices flow :) You guys know what would make my day, don't hesitate to review!


	14. Chapter 14

It took Ari a few heart pounding seconds to realize that she still had the Invisibility Cloak on, and Mr. Weasley couldn't see her. The shop manager pulled back the goldfish curtain behind him – for a second, Ari caught a glimpse of a grand piano before the hidden room was concealed once more.

She took a silent breath in, willing her heart to grow still. Ari was fairly certain that the Cloak would not stop actual people from touching her, and if she didn't move now, there was no guarantee that her presence would be a secret for much longer.

George Weasley walked over to where Ari was standing by the desk, and she shuffled noiselessly towards the mossy entrance. Her eyes were glued on the expression on the redhead's face, and for the briefest of seconds, she caught a familiar hollow look flash behind his eyes. The moment passed though, and Mr. Weasley turned to look right at Ari, before turning back to the goldfish curtain and disappearing into the next room.

Without wasting a second, the intruder threw herself out into the main shop, barrelled through the crowd, and ran outside into the chill of autumn. She saw Monica and James walk past her, in opposite directions and with their own group of friends. Albus hurried towards his brother, asking whether he'd seen Ari anywhere. Ari turned around, and ran past the shops where Hogwarts students usually spent their time in, out towards the less populated area of the wizarding village.

_He knew I was there._

She was sure of it. George Weasley had to have known she was there, he probably knew about his nephew's Cloak, he'd seen the way Ari had looked at him the first time she was at his shop, he must've seen her sympathy, and above all, her burning curiousity. He'd looked right at her. He probably had some sort of charm placed on the moss door to let him know of intruders. He probably let her escape to save her from the embarrassment.

_Or maybe you're just being paranoid again_, a voice in her head reminded her. She groaned.

Arianna hated wondering whether something had happened or whether it was all just in her head.

"Let me see, disembodied moan, no one in front of me –" She felt her heart plummet. She recognized the voice.

"Shut up James."

"And yup! Can't forget that lovely putting-down voice. Must be Ari huh?" Said Ari appeared out of thin air, throwing the shimmering material she'd taken off at James.

"How'd you –"

"Al pointed out there was a slightly incorporeal trainer disappearing at intervals, heading toward this direction. Reminded him of the ones you wear. Blue and white, are these the only ones you have, or do you just have identical pairs to change into everyday?"

"Where's Al then?" James stuffed his Cloak into his robes, and patted the bump it made at his stomach.

"Oh, he saw a pretty girl and was too chicken to tell her how he felt so he decided to go hide in a joke shop."

"Right. I snuck into your uncle's hidden room and read something I shouldn't have." It was James's turn for his eyebrows to shoot up.

"You mean the one behind the goldfish curtains? It took me and Fred _years_ before we could sneak into it, the fish kept leaping out and screaming at us –"

"No, just the one behind the moss door. It was kind of ajar. I feel sorry for your uncle for losing his twin and I've been curious since then to know what it's been like, no idea what was going on through my head that made me think I could just sneak in and well actually I do know like I mentioned I was curious and I just broke into Mr. Weasley's –"

"Ari. Ari!" Ari blinked, before realizing she must've let down her guard; James was looking into her eyes, as if she had that wild look in her eyes the Professor told her she got when she panicked. He reached his hand out as if to pat her on the shoulder, but he let it go limp, "It's okay. Really. If Uncle George wanted to hide something he wouldn't leave it out to be seen so easily."

"They were lett –"

"I don't want to know."

"Well that implies he left the door ajar on purpose, what the hell –"

"Ari."

"Right. Okay." She took a deep breath in, "Thanks for listening to me spaz."

"What's that, a Muggle disease?"

"Er no, North American Muggle slang term – never mind. I've got to get back to the shop, I'm meeting up with Rose and Al…" James grinned.

"Heading there too. Come on."

In the few minutes it took for the pair to walk slowly back towards the joke shop, Ari felt her spirits rise again, and even she couldn't help sneaking glances at James while he joked and asked her how her lessons were. She saw Monica throw her a disgusted look from inside the Three Broomsticks with her gang. Ari didn't care. She saw Scorpius throw her a silly grin from inside the sporting goods shop, Spintwiches, before darting his eyes from her to James. Ari only rolled her eyes. She saw Angelina Weasley come out of the moss-covered door at the back of Mr. Weasley's joke shop, realized the letters must've been for her eyes to see, and felt as if a dead weight was dragging her into an ocean of unpleasant feelings. Guilt and shame mostly.

Those letters had never been for her eyes.

* * *

><p>The first snowfall of the year happened the day before the first Quidditch game. Hogwarts woke up to a white blanket over everything in the surrounding grounds. Windows hardened with frost, students wiped their foggy glasses to peer through at the still, eerie whiteness outside that was slightly blinding to the eye thanks to the sun, a bit out of place in the winter landscape. Ari hurried out of bed and, with the rest of the Potter-Weasley clan, was amongst the first to run out of the Entrance Hall doors to throw herself into the unmarked snow. By the time they trudged back into the Great Hall for a very late breakfast, they were panting, soaked, still chortling and giggling at the snow they'd thrown into everyone else's hair. Rose had spent the whole time chasing Scorpius, who had snuck a handful of snow down her back. The sixth-year Gryffindors, most of them James's friends, ended up having a snowball fight against the rest of the students outside. Halfway through the match, Ari aimed a carefully sculpted snowball at James, saw his eyes widen, and let it soar to whack Albus in the face. Ari spent the next hour dodging snowballs roaring "Traitor!", shielding herself behind James whenever one came bludgering towards her, leaving it to him to dive out of the way at the last minute.<p>

"Just you wait 'til Christmas break, snowball fights at the Burrow are even more intense than today's! I'll get you back for that one you enchanted to sock me in the stomach!" James roared at Ari, not even noticing the fact that he was sitting on – through – Nearly Headless Nick at the Gryffindor table. Ari opened her mouth to answer, her own grin spreading at the pure merriment in his eyes, but she caught sight of Monica staring at her resentfully halfway down the table, and instead just offered a quick smile to the sixth-year.

That night in the common room, Ari found her only pair of trainers, sneakers, as she knew them, missing from her dormitory. Rose hissed in indignation, and was all for cursing their roommates's clothing, but Ari only felt a surge of smug satisfaction. A few minutes after exchanging delightful ideas how to get the Gang (as they were prone to call Monica and her friends) detentions from every class they had, Kathy burst in the room, threw them disgusted looks, and shrilled, "You see what you've done now? You happy now? _Bitch._" before storming out.

"Er- remind me what I did again?" But Rose only shrugged, and the two of them headed down to the common room. They nearly got barrelled into by a sobbing Monica, who was attempting to cover her tear-streaked face with her hands, pursued by a shrieking Kathy, a stone-faced Petra, and a terrified-looking Enya.

"Er." Ari said again.

In the circular room, the students gathered at the tables and armchairs were looking up bewilderedly, their spell books open before them. Albus stepped down from the steps leading to the boys' dormitories, beckoned at Rose and Ari, and the three of them hurried away from earshot.

"What –"

"James broke up with Monica." Rose snorted, and Albus frowned at her, "Well actually Monica dumped him."

"Right…" Ari began slowly, voicing Rose's thoughts just as her friend had begun to voice her's, "And she caused a humongous scene because of that? Very mature."

Albus rolled his eyes, then cast Ari a worried look, "Monica accused him of cheating on her." Ari's eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay, but still, drama queen much? Kathy must've not been much help either…"

"Ari –"

"I can't find my trainers," Ari snapped at the green-eyed boy, "Half of my quills are missing, I have to seal every possession I don't fancy losing in my trunk with spells, and every night I cast around my bed in search of spiders or whatever else. Albus, whoever Monica accused him of cheating on, you know it's not true. James wouldn't, even if he no longer liked her. I've become friends with James, and God knows how hard I've tried not to make things awkward. Tonight's not going to change any of that."

Rose gaped at the two of them.

"I take it that right now is not the right time to tell Ari that the path to her heart's desire is now cleared?"

"Monica –" Al began, but Ari groaned, and ran down the stairs, disappearing out of sight. Rose's eyebrows shot up even higher, and she turned to her cousin, the look in her eyes demanding an explanation. Al shrugged.

"You two and your subtle hidden meanings… So uh what did I miss in the conversation while you two were exchanging glares and panicked looks?"

* * *

><p><em>Crap…<em>

* * *

><p>"Monica accused James of cheating on her with Ari."<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Not really my best/most satisfactory chapter. It took me a while to write this tonight. I probably won't be getting much time to write in the next few days, so I guess I'm proud that I was determined enough to just sit down and get something out

I know it's only been a bit more than a week since I started uploading chapters, and I've gotten some of the nicest comments here and on FB, but for some reason I'm a little in doubt that my writing, or this story, is that good :/

Thanks for anyone's who's reviewed, and faved, it's a nice feeling seeing that someone added your story to the Alerts


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Incomplete.

Chapter 15 

"Who's commenting?" Ari asked, as she, Albus, Rose, Scorpius, and a group of Hufflepuffs headed towards a crowd of fifth-years already seated at the Quidditch stands. A familiar cheery voice, amplified by magic, answered her question.

"As we approach the beginning of our first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, we hear that Melissa Gordan, Keeper for our badgers, exploded her cauldron in Potions and is still recuperating from minor burns," Albert, a fellow Slytherin year-mate, announced from the stands opposite of theirs, "So instead of postponing yet another game, and since they don't have a reserve player, which, when you think of it, they really should –"

"_McKinnon_." McGonagall said warningly. According to Rose, the Headmistress had brought it upon herself to monitor the commentators since her parents' tenure at the school.

"Right. Sorry. So Linda Crestian, reserve Keeper for Slytherin, will be taking her place."

"They can do that?" Ari asked, her surprise reflecting in the murmurs around her.

"It doesn't matter as long as she doesn't get hell for it," Albus muttered, indicating the Slytherin dressed in yellow robes, taking her place with the rest of the teams. There was a trace of worry in the green eyes, and some of Linda's friends shifted uncomfortably around the pitch.

Linda had put on a neutral expression, one that Ari was familiar with, but was better at. She had one currently plastered on her face as Al turned to her, muttering, "Let's get out of here… I have no interest in watching her do her best only to live through a month of hell."

Rose, Al, and Ari got up from their seats and moved as inconspicuously as possible past the rows and rows of spectators. No one paid them much attention, their eyes glued on the Slytherin-turned-Hufflepuff Keeper. Ari stared at the blue-eyed sixth year, her own eyes searching, searching – and there, she spotted them. The signs. The almost imperceptible swallow, a twitch of a corner of Linda's lips, a passing flash of panic behind the Slytherin's shadowed eyes. Ari and Al exchanged identical, knowing glances, and she was sure they were sharing the same thoughts in that instance.

"Where do you guys want to go?" Rose asked once they had cleared out of the Quidditch stands.

"Peeves," Albus said suddenly, "Let's go find Peeves."

Ari and Rose exchanged a look before running after their friend.

* * *

><p>Peeves was busy wreaking havoc in a disused Charms classroom.<p>

"BLOODY BARON!" Al bellowed, and the clanging of crashing desks and knocking chairs went silent. The poltergeist grabbed at the pile of parchment he'd just thrown into the air, his foot reaching for a tumbling cascade of drumsticks.

"Sir –" The bell-clad man began, but he stopped at the sight of the trio by the door. Rose was, nonchalantly, gathering up scattered beetle eyes and squishy pickled slugs, sweeping her wand around the room to straighten out the fallen cabinets. Albus stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a calm and almost benevolent look on his face. Ari was trying not to point out to Peeves that he had a squashed sausage dangling at the ends of his hat.


	16. Rest of Chapter 15

A/N: Continuing from previous installment of Chapter 15. A lot of this part feels just like filler, but I hope you guys can get the gist of how much fun it was to write the dialogue in this third installment of the chapter :)

* * *

><p>"Oh. It's you Potter. Weasley. Asian girl that tags along." Ari snorted. For the first time since she'd known the trickster, she could decipher the hastily covered up moment of panic on the poltergeist's face.<p>

"Peeves." Albus nodded at the small man, who'd flown to hang upside down on the lights, a mischievous look plastered on his face, "I need you to do something."

Peeves cackled. "Oh, is Mr. Almighty Potter asking for a favour from poor, lowly Peeves here?"

"It's not a favour for me, Peeves."

The poltergeist swooped down, swiping at Rose who merely flicked her wand up and sent a stream of wine into the smaller man's face.

Peeves spluttered, sneezing and wheezing. "A – a favour for whom then, oh King Ally?"

"Peeves. Oh do stop being ridiculous. Stop overreacting and I'll tell you something you don't know." The poltergeist paused in his antics; he'd been licking the wine off his face and pretending to get drunk off of it. He cast an interested but dubious look at the green-eyed boy.

"Oh I highly doubt that, Mr. Arrogant Potty. I _always_ know _everything_ that's going on."

Albus grinned almost malevolently. "Well then I'm sure you know I'm friends with Helena Ravenclaw." Ari threw Rose a confused look, but the redhead was too busy giving her cousin an almost revering look.

"That's – that's nice to know. You like to show off about having lots of friends both dead and alive then?"

"That's weird, old sly Peeves. Did I just hear you not insult someone?" Albus dropped his smile. "You're smart Peeves. I won't need to spell it out for you. Help me out, and not only will I not tear you down, but I'll also put in a good word for you."

The poltergeist grimaced.

"Anything for you, Oh-Mr.-Genius."

Albus's grin reappeared. " Excellent. Now for the next, say, month or so, I want you to follow a peer of mine. Linda Crestin."

"You want me to make her life hell, Almight sir?"

"Yes and no. I want you to protect her."

Rose whistled.

"Ally Albie, old Peeves here does not do _protecting_."

"Oh, but you'll get your reward out of it. I'd even go so far to say you'll thoroughly enjoy it."

Peeves floated down right in front of Albus.

"You are quite the Devil, Mr. Potter. You would really tell Madam Ravenclaw to tell the Bloody Baron sir whatever to ruin me, wouldn't you?"

Albus grinned cheerfully.

* * *

><p>In the week that followed, all hell broke loose.<p>

In the Gryffindor common room one night, James tumbled from the hole in the wall, covered head to toe in chicken feathers. The whole room went silent, dozens of eyes looking up from parchments and textbooks, eyeing the sixth-year before bursting out in roaring laughter. A silly grin spread on James's face, and he joined in the cheer.

"Peeves?" Lily Potter asked her brother as he plopped in an empty armchair beside his family. The trio, Lily, and Fred were crammed onto two couches with their respective assignments spread on their laps.

"Didn't think you were the type to bully bullied people, mate." Fred said, throwing a crumpled-up piece of parchment at his cousin.

"I wasn't _bullying _her," James protested, "I was gonna tell her she'd dropped a quill, and then Peeves popped up out of nowhere and dumped a bucket of _this_ on me, it just won't come off – oh shut up you lot."

Ari rolled her eyes at the blank-faced Al and beckoned to his brother.

"Come here you big baby." She pulled out her wand, muttered something under her breath, and James turned into a chicken.

Another uproar of laughter broke. James facepalmed, except he'd forgotten he no longer really had a hand and a forehead and instead got his beak stuck in a wing.

"Oh dear," Lily breathed, bent over and clutching her sides with laughter," Guess I won't need to get you back for planning to turn my hair purple, eh James?"

It really didn't help matters when Monica and her gang came down from the dormitories, the dark-haired girl's boyfriend eyeing Ari furiously and comically.

"You bi –" Petra started, regarding the scene and Arianna alike with distaste.

"Oh grow up," Rose snapped, and turned to her cousin," We'll change you back if you promise to kiss A–"

"No he's not," Ari and Monica retorted simultaneously.

"Calm your pretty little face," Fred told a red-faced Kathy mildly, "It's not even Human Transfig, it's just a Temporary Exterior Transfig."

"Is that even legal?" James muttered frustratingly after Ari had cast the counter spell and he'd lost most of his feathers. His friends ignored him.

"Al, did you send Peeves to stalk Linda?" Lily turned to her brother, after shooing away Monica's clique.

Albus, who had been carefully constructing a list of Potion ingredients, stilled his quill.

James whistled, surprisingly successful even with a slightly pointed mouth. "What'd you threaten him with, badmouthing him to the Bloody Baron viaHelena?"

Ari regarded her friends with awe.

"You _people_," she groaned, "It's like you can read each other's minds." Lily waved her hand dismissively.

"General knowledge of Peeves's worship for the Baron, family knowledge that Al's in love –"

"Lily!"

"Wait wha who –"

"Still?"

"–Linda?"

Al groaned, burying his face into his hands. Ari broke into a wide grin.

"Ohhh, I get it! So _that's _why you asked Peeves to _protect_ her, that's _the_ most romantic thing I've ever witnessed a guy do for a girl."

"Oi, I can do way better," James said, elbowing his brother and winking playfully at Ari. She smiled sweetly back.

"Challenge accepted, mate."

Rose rolled her eyes, her nose having been buried in a book throughout the whole fiasco, "James, stop flirting, you've got a girlfriend. And Al, I thought you said you were over her?"

"Well he's obviously not," Fred chortled, reaching over to rustle his miserable cousin's hair.

"Guys…"

Ari leaned forward, "But seriously Al, you're in love and you never even _told_ me?" Albus stared at her, horror-struck.

"Not you too! Honestly, I'm not in love with Linda." He was looking at her, exasperation written all over his face.

"He was such a dork last year," Rose grinned as her cousin groaned again and buried his head back into his hands, "You're lucky you got here and he changed into who he is now. Oh I know he's always been as conniving and creepily observant as he is now, he's just way more vocal about it now."

"Yoohoo, subject of your gossip still here," Al muttered, voice muffled.

"Anyway," Lily said, tossing a cushion to Fred who pressed it down on the poor fellow's head, "so James has Monica, Al has his unrequited love, Rose's got Scorpius –"

"Whoa, hold on –"

"So what about you Ari?"

"What about you and Fred?" Arianna said, rolling her eyes and ignoring Lily's question.

"And how've I _got_ Scorpius?" Rose demanded, putting her book down for once.

"Fred's got every and any girl he fancies, s'long as he gives up his duties to his prankster heritage –"

" –which I would never."

"Exactly." James continued, "Lily's got her horde of admirers to pick from –"

"Are you calling your sister a slut?" Ari raised her eyebrows.

"What? No. Where'd you get that from? Anyway my sources say she's focusing on someone in Hufflepuff, my year –"

"_Silencio_," Lily said, and James shut up. She turned to Ari, a malevolent gleam in her eye, "You're newest here, you bring fresh meat. Now reveal your secrets."

Ari gulped.


End file.
